Sol Plaatje biography is tops

The North-West University (NWU) is benefiting from its association with award-winning author Prof Brian Willan.

Prof Willan was recently crowned the joint winner for Best Non-Fiction Biography at the 5th Human and Social Sciences (HSS) Awards, held in Johannesburg.

This was in recognition of Willan's book, "Sol Plaatje: A life of Solomon Thekisho Plaatje 1876-1932". This was the second instalment, the first having been published in 1984. The other winning book in this category was "A political biography of Selby Msimang", authored by Sibongiseni M Mkhize.

At the awards evening held on 12 March, leading HSS scholars and academics gathered to celebrate and honour outstanding contributions to the humanities and social sciences by academics, curators and artists based at participating South African universities.

For the NWU, the win means that grant funding of R20 000 will be available as a contribution towards the studies of a deserving student or students within the African Language Digital Media and Communication (ILMA) research entity and/or a suitable journalism or humanities student or students.

Prof Willan, an extraordinary professor within the NWU ILMA research entity, is also jointly editing a collection of Sol Plaatje's letters, a project currently at the proofing stage. Depending on the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof Willan hopes to launch his book at the NWU in October.