The South African Centre of International PEN (SA PEN), in partnership with HSBC Bank plc and New Africa Books, recently announced the winners of the 2006 HSBC/SA PEN Literary Award. Nobel Laureate J M Coetzee, selected the short story The road to Rephile by Sean O'Toole as the winner of the first prize. O'Toole is a former ArtThrob editor and currently edits Art South Africa. Coetzee described the story as 'a moving exploration of the mind of an ageing man, his thoughts deftly interwoven with other voices from the new South Africa... It is a positive contribution (some readers might say too earnestly positive) to a new national literature.'

Johannesburg-based O'Toole completed his MA in Creative Writing with distinction at the University of Cape Town under the supervision of poet Joan Hambidge. He writes a weekly column on photography for the Sunday Times, is widely published in journals and magazines and his short fiction has appeared in New Contrast and other anthologies. He won the 2002 SL short fiction award.

Further to this, Double Storey Books has recently published a collection of O'Toole's short stories entitled The Marquis of Mooikloof. The book's cover image is by Jo Ractliffe, from her recent 'Real Life' series.