SPU Humanities’ student Sisca Julius, who is studying Afrikaans, creative writing, anthropology and heritage studies, was awarded the inaugural K & L prize for her story, Honey Bee.
The award which comes with a substantial prize was founded last year by the New Zealand-based Nigerian novelist, Myles Idoko, author of Black River: An Account of Christmas Preacher.
The award is presented for unpublished short fiction, inspired by historical events in Africa.
Ms Julius says her winning entry is a “narrative about the way the Coloured people were stripped of their language”.
She explains that although she loves writing in Afrikaans, English and Khoi languages, she longs “to cloak my mouth in clicks like my grandmother and her mother”.
She fears that the Nama language will become extinct in South Africa, and “if you lose your language, you lose your culture.”
