The Sunday Times Literary Awards are more than a simple pat on the back for a book well written - they're often a bellwether of our nation as it stutters and grows.
But what makes these accolades more special for a social animal like me is that they're swisher than the usual crackers-and-cheese book launch.
So off I went to The Venue in Melrose Arch for the announcement of this year's winners of the Alan Paton Award (for nonfiction) and the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize. As we sipped vino thanks to the awards' sponsor, Porcupine Ridge, I met one of the Paton nominees, journo Thuli Nhlapo, whose memoir, Colour Me Yellow, tracks her search for her identity.Thuli and her mate Khadija Magardie (who has swapped her reporter's notebook to spin politico speak as special adviser to Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa) were two of the night's standout dressers in their bold African wax-print regalia.
A quick hello to Jennifer Platt, the paper's books editor who was responsible for overseeing the often feisty judging process, before we headed for the official proceedings.It's there that I said hello to a couple I hadn't seen in years, Yunus and Waheeda Abdulla, and met ANC vet and businessman Mavuso Msimang, whose daughter Sisonke was also a Paton finalist but couldn't make it.
A quick catch-up with broadcasting golden girl Tracy Going, the keynote speaker, who'd had a bit of drama the night before: her cat bid her "bon voyage" by soiling the suitcase needed for the flight from Cape Town.
Luckily, the rust-coloured jacket and voluminous brocade skirt she wore escaped unscathed, but Tracy could have worn a sack and we would all still have been enthralled when she read from her memoir, Brutal Legacy, which charts her abusive relationship, her court ordeal and her childhood terrorised by her alcoholic father.
This year, the night was compèred by comedian Loyiso Madinga, who you might recall I named as one of this year's ultimate A-Listers and who looked a bit like a naughty schoolboy with his locks in a brush cut.
You would have read in last week's paper that the Paton went to Bongani Ngqulunga for his opus, The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme, while Harry Kalmer's A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg landed the fiction prize.A touching moment came when Bongani dedicated the award to "my mother and my father, who never went to school. I think this shows what an extraordinary social experiment South Africa really is."
Seeking pointers on writing a good tale, I asked Harry what his light-bulb moment was. "When I heard the title in my head," he said.Enough about books, you'll want to know about the grub - guests including Eusebius McKaiser (there with his squeeze, Nduduzo Nyanda) and books queen Jenny Crwys Williams (whose KayaFM weekend gig still confounds me) tucked into beetroot, fennel and goat's cheese salad for starters.
Thumbs-up to the pan-fried beef medallions with garlic and parmesan fondant potatoes and greens, which I picked for my main, while my table-mates, who opted for chicken korma, were also full of praise. Dessert was a bit of a letdown - chocolate mousse a little too thick and crème brûlée not quite up to scratch...