Pan Macmillan South Africa Celebrates 21 Years of Local Publishing

Subsequent years have seen an expansion of the publishing programme under both the Picador Africa and Pan Macmillan imprints, including numerous bestsellers and award winners and featuring many remarkable authors whose lives and work enrich the cultural, literary and political landscapes of our country.

It is extremely difficult to choose a list of highlights from all the fiction and non-fiction titles published over the years because each book has its own story and makes a particular contribution, but we have selected a few titles from each year that are remarkable in one way or another (the full list of books published over the years can be found here):

• And many more to come …

Over the years, Pan Macmillan has had the privilege of collaborating with international publishers and bestselling writers to release local editions of their books. These authors include Ariel Dorfman, Peter Godwin, Alexandra Fuller, Jonathan Kaplan, Alex Perry, Lawrence Anthony and Francoise Malby Anthony.

Other noteworthy initiatives have included Picador Africa Classics, an ebook-only imprint launched in 2014 to publish exceptional titles that might have been out of print or lacked presence in digital form. Titles under this imprint include: Welcome to Our Hillbrow by Phaswane Mpe; I Speak to the Silent by Mtutuzeli Nyoka; The Rediscovery of the Ordinary by Njabulo S. Ndebele; and The Innocence of Roast Chicken by Jo-Anne Richards.

In addition, in 2014 Pan Macmillan launched the Chris van Wyk bursary to honour Chris van Wyk’s inspiring writing legacy. Since its launch, the bursary has been awarded annually to support postgraduate students in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand.

An exciting investment was made into local children’s books with the start of a children’s local publishing division in September 2019. Featured authors include Jaco Jacobs, Refiloe Moahloli, Wendy Maartens, Zandile Ndhlovu, Cliffordene Norton and many others.

As we look back on 21 years of local publishing, it is important to acknowledge and celebrate what a motivated and supportive team we have at Pan Macmillan South Africa. Every member of the company – from customer services and sales to marketing and comms as well as publishing and finance – plays their part in ensuring our success.

In addition, we are grateful for the support of several international and local literary agents, who entrust us with the work of their authors. And we rely on the talent and dedication of the freelancers we work with regularly, ensuring that our local titles look as good and read as well as they do. All of this effort would be in vain without the valuable support of local retailers, from the independent bookstores to the established retail chains and the online retailers, which all ensure that our books reach readers across South Africa.

What truly gives the Pan Macmillan and Picador Africa brands substance and stature are its authors, and we are grateful to have published so many iconic titles and remarkable writers. Please join us in celebrating 21 years of local publishing in 2025. And here’s to many more noteworthy books from Pan Macmillan South Africa in the next 21 years.