Booksie’s favourite South African authors
As a pan-African bookshop, Booksie features a diverse selection of books from authors across Africa. Over time, we have been able to build our collection of books from South Africa and would like to share our favourite authors from the Rainbow Nation with you.
Niki Daly
In addition to being a multi-award-winning author, illustrator, publisher, and teacher, Niki Daly is also a musician. We love the Jamela Series at Booksie and find that Book Club members are constantly pulling it off the shelves. Check out, Jamela's Dress, Where's Jamela, A Song for Jamela, and "Yebo, Jamela! And let us know your favourite from the series.
Bontle Senne
Bontle Senne is a children's books author and literary activist. She is the author of the Shadow Chasers Series, an afro-fantasy series for 9-12 years olds and is also the author of one of Booksie's favourite books and bestsellers, A Monster at Midnight. A Monster at Midnight was shortlisted for The Golden Baobab Prize for African Children's Literature in 2014.
In addition to writing page turners for pre-teens and teenagers, Bontle is a leader of large-scale business, technology, and people transformations, with a speciality in Agile/Digital, integration planning, and strategy.
She serves on the board of Poku Children's Literature Foundation, and is a minority shareholder of the feminist trade publishing house Modjaji Books.
Zukiswa Wanner
Zukiswa Wanner is an acclaimed writer, journalist, and editor who writes for both children and adults. In 2015, Zukiswa won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg and was awarded the Goethe Medal alongside Ian McEwan and Elvira Espejo Ayca in 2020. This makes her the first African woman to win the award.
Zukiswa is the co-founder of ReadSA Initiative, a campaign on a mission to encourage South Africans to read South African literature. Booksie loves her book Refilwe, an African retelling of Rapunzel.
Lebohang Masango
Lebohang Masango is the award-winning author of Mpumi's Magic BeadsMpumi's Magic Beads, which is available in all 11 of South Africa’s official languages. The book has been awarded the 2018 South African Independent Publishers Award for Children’s Books, 2019 South African Literary Award for Children’s Literature, the 2019 Exclusive Books IBBY SA Award for Best Writer and a 2020 gold Pendoring Advertising Award in the Publication Design – Whole Design category. Lebohang wrote Nanana Boselesele for Wimpy and Ethnikids’ ‘Our Stories, Your Language’ campaign, and co-authored Grow to be Great: Awesome African Achievers with Dr Judy Dlamini and Mpumi and Jabu’s Magical Beads with Professor Claudine Storbeck.