The winners of the 18th annual Via Afrika M-Net Literary Awards were announced on Saturday 13 June at a gala event in Cape Town.

The awards, divided into four language and one film category, recognise the crucial role that literature plays in the development of South African culture.

In 2009 the winners are as follows: English
Anne Landsman for 'The Rowing Lesson'

Afrikaans
Etienne van Heerden for '30 Nagte in Amsterdam'

African languages - Sepedi/Sesotho
Mathethe Molope for 'Babuši ba Lehono' ('Today's Leaders')

African languages – Tshivenda
Tsireledzo Mushoma for 'Nne na inwi' ('You and Me')

M-Net Film Award
Deon Meyer for '13 Uur'

In the new category for Film, the judges identified novels in each language category which show potential for development into screenplays, which M-Net could produce for television. These novels are defined by their strong narrative and relevance to actualities. All novels submitted for the main awards were automatically entered for this award.

All published works submitted in 11 official languages were grouped in six language categories, namely: Nguni (isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiNdebele, SeSwati), Sotho (SeSotho, SePedi, SeTswana), TshiVenda, XiTsonga Afrikaans and English. Winners in each category received a cash prize of R30 000. A total of 65 entries were received, 37 of which were in English, 15 in African languages and 13 in Afrikaans.

Shortlisted authors who missed out on awards included Damon Galgut for 'The Imposter', Michiel Heyns for 'Bodies Politic', Chris Marnewick for 'Shepherds & Butchers', Rosamund Kendal for 'Karma Suture', André P. Brink for 'Ander Lewens' and PG du Plessis for 'Fees van die Ongenooides'