fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Eben Venter is an Afrikaans-speaking writer who was born in Burgersdorp in South Africa and has lived in Australia, Japan and the Netherlands. He published eleven works of fiction (novels, short story collections and a cookbook). His works have been translated into English, Dutch and German.

Eben Venter
Born	Burgersdorp, South Africa
Occupation	Novelist
Notable awards	W.A. Hofmeyr Prize M-Net Literary Award

He was awarded the M-Net Literary Award in 2010 for his book Santa Gamka.

Life

Venter was raised on a farm in Eastern Cape.[1] He went to Grey College in Bloemfontein[2] before he was conscripted into the air force and served on the Angolan border. He obtained an MA in philosophy and worked as a journalist in Johannesburg before leaving South Africa in 1986, during the State of Emergency.[1] He went to Australia where he worked as a chef in his sibling's café.

In 2005, Venter taught at Adam Mickiewicz University and Palacky University before becoming a writer-in-residency at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in 2007.[3]

On August 4, 2010, Venter was nominated for the M-Net Literary Award in the Afrikaans category for his book Santa Gamka.[4]

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University awarded him as an alumni achiever in November 2011.[3] In 2012, he was writer-in-residence at Rhodes University.[1] In 2018, Venter released his first book created in English instead of Afrikaans titled Green as the Sky Is Blue.[5]

List of titles

• 1986 Witblitz
• 1993 Foxtrot van die vleiseters, translated into German (as Burenfoxtrott) and Dutch (Dans aan het einde van de dag)
• 1996 Ek stamel, ek sterwe, translated into English (My Beautiful Death) and Dutch (Ik stamel ik sterf)
• 1999 My simpatie, Cerise
• 2000 Twaalf
• 2003 Begeerte
• 2006 Horrelpoot, translated as Trencherman
• 2009 Santa Gamka
• 2010 Brouhaha
• 2013 Wolf, Wolf, translated into English by Michiel Heyns

Awards

• 1994 Media24 Books Literary Awards (WA Hofmeyr Prize) – Foxtrot van die vleiseters
• 1996 Media24 Books Literary Awards (WA Hofmeyr Prize) – Ek stamel, ek sterwe
• 2004 Media24 Books Literary Awards (WA Hofmeyr Prize) – Begeerte
• 2010 Media24 Books Literary Awards (WA Hofmeyr Prize) – Santa Gamka
• 2010 M-Net Literary Awards – Santa Gamka

References

External links

• Author focus of publisher Tafelberg
• Interview with Eben Venter

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