Xitsonga Literary Awards

A platform that celebrates and supports the voices, stories, and creativity of Xitsonga writers, poets, and storytellers.

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XLA

Championing the Recognition and Reach of Xitsonga Literature and its Writers

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Xitsonga Literary Awards

Cultivating a Thriving Culture of Reading Within Our Communities

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Our Aim

Our aim is to create a platform where writers and readers from the Xitsonga community will realise the fullness of their humanity, Xitsonga Literary Awards transforms the literary space, speaking directly to the most urgent goal of scraping our marginalisation.

Xitsonga Literary Awards is the flagship project as an initiative of uplifting our Xitsonga Authors, which include publishing and bookselling.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide a programs of events that inspires the interest of the Vatsonga community in many forms of their written words, thus creating new opportunities for knowledge production, publishing and cultural interaction.

Our Vision

To inspire, recognize, and elevate Xitsonga literature, fostering a vibrant community of readers and writers who celebrate and preserve the richness of Xitsonga culture for future generations

About XLA

Celebrating impactful storytelling while promoting cultural heritage through awards that recognize outstanding contributions to Xitsonga literature

Background

Until the advent of democracy, the communities occupied by Vatsonga People had limited literary infrastructure outside the school system. There are no bookstores or libraries and the work of Xitsonga authors goes unnoticed therefore unknown, and there is no mainstream literary activities supporting the authors. .

The dawn of democracy saw libraries built in urban areas but not in villages. We recently seen an increase in Xitsonga authors writing freely and more expansively, however there are still no bookstores, not enough relevant literature or sense of unity in ownership of their work.

This annual event honours Xitsonga’s finest authors over two days in key categories, as they battle to be the best.

Launch Highlights – 29 December 2024

The Xitsonga Literary Awards officially launched on 29 December 2024, marking a historic celebration of Xitsonga authors. Here are a few captured moments from this special day.

Collins Chabalala presenting Honorary Award

We believe that our work must:

Promote the mainstreaming of literature by Xitsonga writers.
Promote the mainstreaming of literature in our indigenous language
Promote the mainstreaming of storytelling through text
Nurture the culture of reading in our communities
Influence the transformation of the library in Africa into a truly African Library
Influence the transformation of bookselling

Spectrum of Change:

In addition to the stated values, Xitsonga Literary Awards has adopted the ‘spectrum of change’ approach which allows for a broad range of social change strategies that go beyond literature, including:

Partnerships with relevant institutions (local municipalities, Universities, and Businesses) to promote and develop our Xitsonga Authors.
Striving to influence our local businesses like Spar/ Shoprite to sell these books that our authors are publishing

Intended Awards Output/Programme

Recognizing and celebrating exceptional literary contributions, empowering Xitsonga authors, and promoting the growth of Xitsonga literature

Moses Mtileni Memorial Award

(Poet/ voice of Barthalomew Lomeo September-Siku ndzi ngata etlela) then Mtileni’s life/books/him reading xikoriya and last will)

Keynote Address

The keynote address will be Authors like T.P Magaisa who has previously won the South African Poetry Award from the South African Literary Awards and the Order of Ikhamanga. He is the author of Wu tshike wu khuluka, Xivono, Ntshiva wa nkarhi, Hidye naxo,Ndzi rhete kwihi Ri ta pela and many more)