The Jacana Literary Foundation (JLF) has announced a three-manuscript shortlist for the R35,000 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award. They are:

■ Legacy of a Rain Queen – The Eagle’s Martial by Sophia Tao

■ Not to Mention by Vivian de Klerk

■ The Mourning Bird by Mubanga Kalimamukwento

Submissions were judged blindly by a panel comprising: creative writing professor David Medalie, author of the story collections The Shooting of the Christmas Cows (1990), The Mistress’s Dog (2010) and the novel The Shadow Follows (2006); Rehana Rossouw, author of the Etisalat Prize-shortlisted and Humanities and Social Sciences Award-winning novel What Will People Say? (2014) and New Times (2017); and Songeziwe Mahlangu, author of the Etisalat Prize-winning and Sunday Times Fiction Prize-shortlisted novel Penumbra.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony in October, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg Library. One of the runners-up will receive the R25 000 Kraak Writing Award which will offer the recipient mentoring and intensive coaching from an editor/publishing expert.