UNATHI SLASHA Wins the 2025 Iskanchi Book Prize

We are delighted to announce that Unati Slasha has been awarded the 2025 Iskanchi Book Prize for his audacious and inventive novel, The Hollow Sound of Lightweight Bodies.

Unati, a South African poet, novelist, short-story writer, polemicist, and literary scholar from Despatch, continues to build his reputation as one of the most boundary-pushing voices in African literature. His winning novel documents the disturbing and dreamlike life of Mxabanisi Bulawayo, a 21-year-old technician at Despatch Crematorium by night and an amateur obituarist by day. Bulawayo’s reality is upended when he encounters the mythic Baba Bouka, a keeper of ancient animals and dream creatures who challenges everything he thought he knew about life in Ward 52.

The Hollow Sound of Lightweight Bodies is a speculative, irreverent, and deeply original work, part tribute, part requiem, blending folklore, fantasy, gossip, and grief to capture the unpredictability of township life. Written in what Unati calls the “anecdotale”, a style fusing anecdote and the fantastical, this novel refuses easy moralities, confronting violence, corruption, despondence, and death without the safety of political correctness.

With this win, Unati affirms his place as one of the most daring literary innovators of his generation.

The 2025 Iskanchi Book Prize winner was announced during a lively virtual event held on June 29, which featured readings from the shortlisted writers and spirited engagement from an audience of readers, writers, and literary enthusiasts. The Iskanchi Book Prize celebrates bold, imaginative writing that pushes the boundaries of African literature, offering a platform for writers who interrogate language, history, and the possibilities of storytelling. As we look to the future, Iskanchi Press remains committed to growing the prize into a vital space for fostering dialogue, championing literary innovation, and spotlighting the most daring voices across the continent and the African diaspora. Congratulations, Unati. We are proud to honour your work

‍