Paarl writer wins 11th Woordfees Short Story Competition

Paarl writer Keith Oliver Lewis was named the winner of the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees’s eleventh annual Short Story Anthology Competition on Saturday evening, 3 October. 

The announcement was made during the launch of the anthology at Stellenbosch Town Hall. Keith Oliver Lewis receives R30 000 for his winning story “Nagwaak”. The prize is made possible by the sponsors, EasyEquities, the Hiemstra Trust, and PEN Afrikaans. A record number of entries were received this year: 471 compared to 329 last year.

In 2022, Keith Oliver Lewis tried his hand at a short story for the first time, which was selected for that year’s short story anthology. While he didn’t win, but he made a promise to himself that he would try again.  

“That night Lynthia Julius won. So I said I want to be like her. And look at me now!” Keith Oliver Lewis recalled. 

“Nagwaak” poignantly weaves together how a family tries to make sense of the death of a son in gang violence. It is written in the language of his Paarl, with no pretension or flowery words. He strips everything away until only the pain and despair of loss remains. Stories about gang violence are not new. By placing people – in this case, the parents – at the centre of the story, he tells it in a way that makes you think and feel differently about how communities are affected.

“What clinched the award for this story is the striking open ending – a masterclass in subtlety,” says Suzette Myburgh, convenor of the judging panel. This year’s judges were Valda Jansen and Marius Swart.

Saartjie Botha, director of the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees, describes short stories in her preface as an “old, underrated instrument” for the urgency that is the daily pulse of a writer. In short stories, she writes, “there is no luxury of a slow reveal – the reader is trusted to complete what the story could not say in full”.

Fortunately, Keith Oliver Lewis said what he needed to – and it fell on the right ears.

This year’s Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees Short Story Anthology featuring 25 stories is on sale in the Bookstore at Die Khaya or online at woordfees.co.za. Previous years’ anthologies are also available. Every writer included in the collection also receives R5 000, compliments of EasyEquities.  

Here is the full list of writers:

Anita Kritzinger, Anna-Bet Stemmet, Cobus Kruger, Corine Raath, Elme Ravenscroft, Elzan Webster, Emile Joubert, Gaireyah Fredericks, Helena Opperman, Ilse Schoonwinkel Pauw, Janina Theron, Janine Opperman, Johann Smith, Karin Sennett, Keith Oliver Lewis, Ling Sheperd, Lynthia Julius, Marquen Carstens, Michèle Meyer, Morné Malan, Paula Fourie, Rina Bester, Ryno Eksteen, Sandy Schoeman, Werner Rossouw.

Click here to read more about the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees’ Short Story Project.