The shortlists comprise three titles for each of five prizes. The winning authors receive R30 000, except in the “illustrated children’s category”, where author and illustrator each receive R15 000. The winners will be announced at a joint function with the MNet Literary Awards on Sunday, 17 June 2007. (The event isn’t part of the official Cape Town Book Fair programme, but certainly adds to the ferment of that weekend!)

Herewith the shortlisted candidates, in alphabetical order:

The Wedding is a love story, of sorts, set in East, South and North. That is, set in India, South Africa and America. Through two narrators – Khateja, the “most beautiful woman in the world”, and her grandson, two generations later – the story of her marriage and voyage to Durban from Bombay is told.

Coovadia’s writing is funny, sharp-witted and unusual. Peppered with Indian names for food and people, his dialogue is so three-dimensional it leaps off the page. In fact, it is this razor sharp style which pushes the story forward, as we learn of Ismet Nassin, a humble, peaceful clerk who is hit on the side of the head (by an angel) and decides to marry Khateja, a feisty village girl.

Kitchen Casualties is the story of four generations of women in the Cape Peninsula, woven into the course of a single day.

We hear, in four voices (Gloria, Ruth, Isabel and Morgan) about the lives of women in a changing country, about the often-complex relationship between mother and daughter, and about each individual’s coping mechanisms.

Book Launch , Cape Town Book Fair, Monday 18 June, 15h00, Cape Town Water Front . umSinsi Press launches 5 books, all very different, with the authors present to introduce you to their books and one musical isiZulu CD of anticrime music and songs. The same books were launched at the London Book Fair in April 2007.