Sunday Times journalist Fred Khumalo has received the European Union Literary Award for a first novel, it was announced on Thursday.
He shares the award - and R25 000 cash prize - with Gerald Kraak, a director of the non-governmental organisation, Atlanticphilantrophies, said Jacana Media.
Khumalo won for his novel Bitches' Brew, and Kraak for his novel Ice In The Lungs.
Both received a trophy depicting the covers of their winning books, each will travel to a literary festival in Europe and both manuscripts will be published by Jacana Media, said its spokesperson Sahm Venter.
Bitches' Brew follows the conflicted life of a South African man looking for a role for himself during the apartheid era.
Ice In The Lungs tells the story of a group of friends caught up in South Africa's political uprising in 1976 and who are also linked to a story during the 1940s Greek civil war.
"I am very excited, actually overwhelmed. I spent seven years on this book. But, as they say, as one matures as a writer the longer one takes," Kraak said.
The first EU Literary Award was won last year by Ishtiyaq Shukri for his novel The Silent Minaret, which has since received international acclaim. - Sapa