Green Lion is one of 25 novels longlisted for the 2016 Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize, South Africa’s preeminent fiction award. Worth R100 000 to the winner, it is given each year to recognise “a novel of rare imagination and style, evocative, textured and a tale so compelling as to become an enduring landmark of contemporary fiction”. Last year the recipient was Damon Galgut for his novel Arctic Summer.

Chairperson of the judging committee, Rustum Kozain, remarks:

There are stories set in South Africa and set elsewhere … generally realist stories and there are science fiction or speculative fiction stories. Tender, lyrical narratives wistful and romantic, and narratives that come at you with the full blast of the digital-information age. There is seriousness and humour, light humour and black humour. South African writers are writing. It is a daunting field.

The shortlist will be revealed on May 14 at the Franschhoek Literary Festival. (My novel Nineveh was on the shortlist in 2012.)