Social anthropologist and Stellenbosch University academic Prof Steven Robins' memoir, Letters of Stone,
has been nominated as one of five books to make the Sunday Times
shortlist for the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction for 2017. The award
is presented in association with Porcupine Ridge.
Through Letters of Stone, Robins,
who lecturers in the Sociology and Social Anthropology Department in
the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, chronicles his family's
desperate attempt to escape Nazi Germany and the concentration camps
which led to the deaths of millions of Jews. Sparked by a single
photograph of his grandmother, Cecilie, and his aunts, Edith and
Hildegard, displayed in his family home, he provides a deeply personal
and painful reflection of the true horror and extent of the Nazis'
racial policies against Jews. Read the full story about Robins' memoir here.
"I
am really pleased and honoured to be shortlisted. Writing such a
personal book was very important for me and for my wider family. Being
recognised by the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award for the book is a
wonderful bonus," said Robins.
The winner of the award will be announced on Saturday, 24 June, and will receive a R100 000 prize.
According
to a statement by Pippa Green, Chairwoman of the judging panel, the
initial long list, which consisted of 26 books, included "a number of
memoirs, biographies and autobiographies, which tell the stories of
intimate family relationships against a backdrop of the huge historical
forces that have swept the last century". The other members of the
judging panel include Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, an adviser
to the principal and vice-chancellor at the University of Pretoria and
an extraordinary professor at the University of South Africa; and Judge
Johann Kriegler, a former Constitutional Court judge.
This
year marks the 28th year that the Alan Paton Award will be bestowed on a
book that presents "the illumination of truthfulness, especially those
forms of it that are new, delicate, unfashionable and fly in the face of
power", and that demonstrates "compassion, elegance of writing, and
intellectual and moral integrity" read the statement released by the
Sunday Times.
"The shortlist reflects a diverse range of subjects
and historical eras: from human origins to the Marikana of just three
years ago, from CapeTown today to wartime Berlin," said the Sunday
Times.
The four other books that made the short list are Under Nelson Mandela Boulevard: Life Among the Stowaways by Sean Christie, Darwin's Hunch: Science, Race, and the Search for Human Origins by Christa Kuljian, Murder at Small Koppie: The Real Story of The Marikana Massacre by Greg Marinovich, and My Own Liberator by Dikgang Moseneke.
"These
books raise critical questions about our past, present and future,"
says Green. "The big question being asked is, who are we?"
Photo: Prof Steven Robins with his memoir, Letters of Stone, that has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. (Lauren E.H. Muller)