Ivan Vladislavić's new novel DOUBLE NEGATIVE wins the University of Johannesburg English Literary Award 2010. The UJ Prize is awarded to the writer of the best original creative work in English published in the previous calendar year. The UJ Debut Prize is awarded to the writer of the best original creative debut work in English published in the previous calendar year, and was this year awarded to Shaida Kazie Ali for NOT A FAIRYTALE. A formal prize giving ceremony will be held at a function in September 2011.

The shortlists, compiled from approximately 60 submitted works, were as follows:

Main prize
Altbeker, Antony. FRUIT OF A POISONED TREE
Beukes, Lauren. ZOO CITY
Medalie, David. THE MISTRESS'S DOG
Van Onselen, Chris. MASKED RAIDERS
Vladislavić, Ivan. DOUBLE NEGATIVE
Watson, Stephen. MUSIC IN THE ICE

Debut prize
Ali, Shaida Kazie. NOT A FAIRY TALE
Clelland, James. DEEPER THAN COLOUR
Irving, David Dinwoodie. AFRICAN COOKBOY

Ivan Vladislavić's DOUBLE NEGATIVE is published as a standalone novel in South Africa by Umuzi. In DOUBLE NEGATIVE apartheid-era university drop-out Neville Lister is in danger, his father thinks, of 'falling in with the wrong crowd' and so is sent to eminent photographer Saul Auerbach - 'a man of strong convictions, but who has learned to direct them' - to gain some sense of perspective and direction. And so begins a delicate, funny and beautifully written exploration of the art of depiction, of the haunting power of photographs - those 'odd little memorials that owe so much to chance and intuition'. In three sections - 'Available Light', 'Dead Letters', and 'Small Talk' - this spare yet memorable novel tracks the changing city of Johannesburg and Neville's path to career success - though that first day and what they saw, and what Saul Auerbach photographed then, are things he will never forget. DOUBLE NEGATIVE is a brilliant meditation on our ways of seeing and recording, on how and what we remember, and the art of being lost.

Praise for Ivan Vladislavić

'One of the most imaginative minds at work in South African literature today.' -- André Brink

'Vladislavić is without doubt the most significant writer in South Africa today.' -- Focus on Africa

'Vladislavić is a rare, brilliant writer.' -- Sunday Times (SA)