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# Afrikaans Festival in The Hague
Etienne van Heerden will contribute to the Afrikaans Festival in The Hague, Netherlands,
14–16 June 2013. More details here. [04.2013]
# Forthcoming in September 2013: In Love's Place
In Love's Place, Leon de Kock's translation of Etienne van Heerden's novel In stede van die liefde, upcoming in September 2013, Penguin. [04.2013]
# Forthcoming in September 2013: Klimtol
Etienne van Heerden's new Afrikaans novel is titled Klimtol, Afrikaans for yo-yo. It will be published in September 2013 (Tafelberg Publishers, Cape Town). Here Van Heerden is holding an original Russel yo-yo from the 1960's. [04.2013]
At the 2nd Karoo Development Conference, organised by the Universities of the Free State and Pretoria, Beaufort West, 14 October 2012. [10.2012]
# Interview on Kwêla, kykNET
With interviewer Coenie de Villiers on the Kwêla TV programme, discussing LitNet Akademies, the 2nd Karoo Development Conference, hydraulic fracking and Haai Karoo. [10.2012]
# "Poison Karoo" in the USA
"Words Without Borders" are carrying "Poison Karoo" (translated from the original Afrikaans into English by Isobel Dixon) in their current issue:
"This month we explore the role of oil in the international landscape. Oil transforms nations, links disparate political and social ideologies, breeds conflict, and drives governmental and corporate policy; our writers show how this force, both blessing and curse, shapes lives and literature around the world. We begin with an essay by political scientist Michael L. Ross connecting oil wealth and national development. Russian Booker nominee and award-winning short-story writer Alexander Snegiryov presents the (show) business of oil in Russia.
"In two graphic pieces, Lebanon's Mazen Kerbaj mourns what's left of his pillaged country, and Italy's Davide Reviati grows up in the shadow of Ravenna's ominous petrochemical plant. Translator Peter Theroux shows how Abdelrahman Munif's great Cities of Salt runs on oil. Afrikaans star Etienne van Heerden's solitary South African experiences hydrofracking firsthand, while science fiction writer Andreas Eschbach's stolid loner taps a sixth sense for oil. In two tales of oil workers, Argentina's María Sonia Cristoff and Germany's Anja Kampmann explore solitude, madness, and other occupational hazards. And poet Stephen E. Kekeghe protests the draining of Nigeria." [10.2012]
# Joint seminar on "The Writer as Satirist"
Pieter-Dirk Uys visited Etienne van Heerden's MA Creative Writing class at UCT, offering a seminar on the Writer as Satirist. Other participants in 2012's second semester include Michiel Heyns (“The Writer as Translator"), Lauren Beukes (“The Writer as Futurist"), Deon Meyer (“The Writer as Detective”) and Leon de Kock (“The Writer as would-be Lover”). Apart from the seminars with invited writers, Van Heerden workshops flash fiction/sudden fiction texts and short stories written by the students (and inspired by the presentations by the visiting writers). In addition, he offers lectures on narrative strategies. [10.2012]
# Book chat with Tim Huisamen
At the Haai Karoo launch in Stellenbosch (at Protea Boekehuis) Tim Huisamen conducted the interview with Etienne van Heerden. [09.2012]
# Greetings from Cradock
Old friend Obie Oberholzer visited Market Street, Cradock, and came up with this satirical self-portrait in typical Oberholzer style. [09.2012]
# The fracking of your private pain
Courtesy Die Burger – read the interview with Erns Grundling here.
[09.2012]
# At the Open Book Festival
Etienne van Heerden with fellow novelist André Brink at the launch of Van Heerden's short story collection Haai Karoo at the Open Book Festival, Fugard Theatre, Cape Town (photo: Chrizane van Zyl). [09.2012]
# Book signing
Etienne van Heerden signing a copy of Haai Karoo for ex-student René Penderis (photo: Chrizane van Zyl). [09.2012]
# Haai Karoo will be launched at the Open Book Festival, Fugard Theatre, Cape Town
[09.2012]
# Read Poison Karoo
“Poison Karoo” is a chapter from Etienne van Heerden’s novel about a yo-yo champion, to be published in March 2013 by Tafelberg Publishers.
The English translation of Gifkaroo is by Isobel Dixon, whose poems about the Karoo are included in her collections The Tempest Prognosticator (2011), A Fold in the Map (2007) and Weather Eye (2001), which was awarded the Olive Schreiner Prize in 2004. She grew up in Graaff-Reinet.
Poison Karoo is a work of fiction, written as if commercial hydraulic fracking has already begun in the Karoo. [08.2012]
(’n Klein lewe was completed under the supervision of Etienne van Heerden as part of UCT's Creative Writing programme).
[08.2012]
# The explainer advertisement for LitNet and LitNet Akademies
Watch this video and you'll be an expert on how LitNet works in no time. [08.2012]
# The latest LitNet advertisement
Entertainer David Kramer was seen in the LitNet television ad – with Peter-Dirk Uys, André P. Brink, Etienne van Heerden and others. [08.2012]
# Featherman comes to life
With sculptor Frans Boekkooi and 'Featherman', Boekkooi's depiction of the Angel in Etienne van Heerden's novel The Long Silence of Mario Salviati. At the 2012 Karoo Writers Festival, Cradock.
[08.2012]
# LitNet at the Karoo Writers Festival
The LitNet team at the Karoo Writers Festival 2012 presented the LitNet Schools Indaba and the panel 'Cultural Crossover: Is it happening?' In the picture: Etienne van Heerden, Bibi Slippers (LitNet), Russel Kaschula (Director of the School of Languages, University of Rhodes, and author), EKM Dido (the first black woman to publish an Afrikaans novel) and (seated) Peter Mtuze, author and former Head of African Languages at Rhodes University. [08.2012]
# Book launch
The Karoo launch of Etienne van Heerden’s short story collection Haai Karoo will take place at the Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival in Cradock on Friday, 10 August at 19h00, Victoria Manor, Mark Street.
[08.2012]
# Publication to protest fracking in the Karoo: Gifkaroo
Author Etienne van Heerden, London literary agent and poet Isobel Dixon (Weather Eye, The Tempest Prognosticator) and photographer Obie Oberholzer are working together on a publication to protest fracking in the Karoo. Van Heerden donated the original Afrikaans story, Gifkaroo (a chapter from a forthcoming novel), Dixon translated it for free (Poison Karoo), and Oberholzer contributed a photograph. Gifkaroo / Poison Karoo will be the first publication of Houtstraat Uitgewers, a niche publishing house in Cape Town. A limited, signed print run of only 100 copies will be presented to key players in the petroleum industry and other parties. The book will not be for sale. [06.2012]
# Honorary Doctor Litterarum
The University of the Free State presented Etienne van Heerden with a honorary Doctor Litterarum, or DLitt, at its winter graduation ceremony on 15 June 2012. Here he is with the Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Jonathan Jansen. Read more here. [06.2012]
At the UFS Graduation ceremony in June 2012 in Bloemfontein - with Prof Hennie van Coller (left) and Judge Ian van der Merwe, Chairperson of the UFS Council.
Wilna Adriaanse's 'n Klein lewe, the manuscript of which was completed under the supervision
of Etienne van Heerden as part of UCT's Creative Writing programme,
has just been published by Tafelberg Publishers. [06.2012]
# Etienne van Heerden in Bloemfontein
In the office of Hennie van Coller, Head of Afrikaans, Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State. The skull used to sit on the desk of the great Sestiger novelist, Etienne (Stephen) Leroux. On the right is a painting of DF Malherbe, a novelist of an even earlier generation. Van Heerden was invited to talk about LitNet and its accredited node for peer-reviewed academic writing in the Humanities, Law and the Natural Sciences, LitNet Akademies. [06.2012]
# Novel supervised by Etienne van Heerden wins UJ Debut Prize
A novel supervised by Etienne van Heerden in the MA Creative Writing programme at UCT wins the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize for South African Writing in English.
30 Nights in Amsterdam in Latvian, published by Jumava Publishers. [06.2012]
# Forthcoming in August 2012: Haai Karoo
Haai Karoo (Tafelberg Publishers) is an Afrikaans collection of short stories set in the Karoo. It will be launched at the 2012 Schreiner Literary Festival in Cradock (for further info, contact Lisa Antrobus Ker at lisa@tuishuise.co.za). The stories were previously published in earlier Van Heerden volumes and one of the texts, "Die gas in Rondawel Wilhelmina" was at the time published by the Dutch Anti-Apartheid organisation Kairos. "Haai" means "bleak", "barren" and "inhospitable". Most of these stories were published in French, Hebrew, Dutch and other languages. [05.2012]
# Etienne van Heerden in Amsterdam
Staying as guest of the Dutch Foundation for Literature on the Spui in Amsterdam for the month of February 2012, Van Heerden researched and worked on a new novel.
[Netherlands: Amsterdam, 02.2012]
# Masters Class in Literary Translation
Etienne van Heerden will offer a Masters Class in Literary Translation at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands and his Dutch translator, Martine Vosmaer, will also contribute.
Click here for more information.
Writers Unlimited: The Series, The Hague, Netherlands
This lecture: 30 Nights in Amsterdam
Lecture, Central Library, The Hague - 24 February 2012, 20h30 to 22h00
Writers Unlimited (formerly "Winternachten") offers a series of conversations with authors: "Writers Unlimited: The Series" and in the 4th event Etienne van Heerden will discuss his latest novel with Jeroen van Kan (VPRO radio programme De Avonden) en the chief editor of ZAM Magazine, Bart Luirink.
“Van Heerden schepte bovendien voor de gekte van Zan een idioom dat haar een personage maakt dat zijn weerga in de moderne literatuur bijna niet kent. De oplopende stadia van haar ‘vervoering’ worden gespiegeld in haar steeds extatischer taal. Spreekt Zan in normale doen al kleurrijk, als zij een aanval krijgt gaat het hele taalregister open. De leestekens vallen weg, de associaties en verwijzingen buitelen over elkaar heen – u las het hierboven al. Een pluim voor Karina van Santen en Martine Vosmaer, de vertalers die haar (en dus Van Heerden) hebben kunnen bijbenen, hoed af voor deze beste roman van 2011.” – Mark-Edward Schaap
“Het jaar 2011 sloot ik heel waardig af met een verbijsterend knap boek van Etienne van Heerden (1954), 30 Nachten in Amsterdam.” – André Oyen
# Dutch Translation of 30 Nights in Amsterdam
Etienne van Heerden took part in the Crossing Borders Festival (The Hague, Netherlands and Antwerp, Belgium), launching the Dutch translation of 30 Nights in Amsterdam. [11.2011]
“Etienne van Heerden’s new novel 30 Nights in Amsterdam is an incredibly rich novel, magnificently
written ... 30 Nights in Amsterdam is a raging whirlwind of events, ideas, feelings and facts, captivating and transporting readers, leaving them breathless after the last page.”
– Sonja Dejong, Haarlems Dagblad [Netherlands: The Hague, 14.12.2011]
# Manuscript supervised by Etienne van Heerden published
Supporting emerging writers: Terry Westby-Nunn's The Sea of Wise Insects, the manuscript of which was completed under the supervision of Etienne van Heerden as part of UCT's Creative Writing programme, has just been published by Jacana. [11.2011]
# Maal by Nicole Jaekel Strauss
Nicole Jaekel Strauss has been awarded the Eugéne Marais Prize (a prize awarded for an early work) for her debut, Maal. Strauss also received the University of Johannesburg Prize for a Debut Work for this manuscript, completed under the supervision of Etienne van Heerden. [11.2011]
# Etienne van Heerden at the Cape Town Open Book Festival
With Earl Lovelace and Lynda Gilfillan, “The Pen Free the Word dialogue”, Open Book Festival, Cape Town, September 2011. (Photo: Books LIVE) [09.2011]
Smaller, more compact paperback edition of 30 Nights in Amsterdam, to be launched on
October 1st, 2011. New cover design. [09.2011]
# Photos
Etienne van Heerden (middle) spoke at the second Olive Schreiner Karoo Writers’ Festival about the Karoo as his “landscape of the mind”. Here he is with a group at the Cradock Four Memorial. At the back, from left to right: Kaia van Heerden, Tim Wege, Darryl David (founder of the festival) and Rika Featherstonehaugh. In front, from left to right: June Walters, Miki Redelinghuys and her two children, Tumani Calata, Kiara David (daughter of Darryl), Menán van Heerden, Etienne van Heerden, Nomonde Calata (wife of activist Fort Calata, one of the Cradock Four), Julienne du Toit, Michael Antrobus, the author Michael Cawood Green and Christopher Nicholson (author of Who Killed the Cradock Four?) [07.2011]
• For photographs of the festival's expedition to Schreiner's grave on Buffelskop, click here.
Eerste Festival voor het Afrikaans in Amsterdam
With other artists and organisers at the Theatre of the Tropics, Amsterdam.
Gert Vlok Nel, Calvin Ngcaku, Joris Cornelissen (main organiser), Marita van der Vyver, Themba Ndimande, Etienne van Heerden, David Kramer, Niël Rademan, EKM Dido and Rachelle Conradie (organiser). [06.2011]
Reading in the Theatre of the Tropics, Amsterdam, Netherlands, with Dutch translation of 30 Nights in Amsterdam projected overhead. [06.2011]
Before the reading: Breyten Breytenbach, Ena Jansen, Marita van der Vyver, Etienne van Heerden and EKM Dido, Theatre of the Tropics, Amsterdam [06.2011]
Etienne van Heerden with Harry Garuba and Michiel Heyns, Men of Letters panel, Franschhoek Literary Festival 2011. [05.2011]
Etienne van Heerden joins 19 other writers from 10 countries at The Time of the Writer Festival in Durban. The focus this year is on Freedom of Expression. [03.2011]
At the "Big Five" reading at the Stellenbosch Woordfees, with novelists Ingrid Winterbach, André Brink, Elsa Joubert and Arnon Grunberg (from the Netherlands). [03.2011]
(Photo: Imke van Heerden)
BookSa: He read a passage from 30 Nights in Amsterdam that left the audience breathless and disturbed. It was certainly the most powerful reading I heard at my two days at the festival, and moved 30 Nights right to the top of my reading list. [03.2011]
The launch of Etienne van Heerden's 30 Nights in Amsterdam took place at the Kalk Bay Bookshop on Thursday, 17 February 2011. Leon de Kock was the guest speaker, and translator Michiel Heyns and Etienne van Heerden took part in a discussion about the book. Click here for more photos. [02.2011]
# New release
Penguin Books SA is delighted to announce the release of Etienne van Heerden’s 30 Nights in Amsterdam. Originally written in Afrikaans, 30 Nights in Amsterdam is now available in English for the first time!
30 Nights in Amsterdam (translated by Michiel Heyns) follows Henk Andreas de Melker, a lowly museum assistant from a small town in the Eastern Cape who is unexpectedly informed that he is the sole beneficiary of his late, long-lost Aunt Zan’s estate.
He must travel to Amsterdam, where his beautiful but eccentric aunt had spent her final years, to acquire this fortune. Aunt Zan was an extraordinary woman, prone to seizures and extremely unsociable behaviour … but her “other life” – her political activism, her acting ability and her involvement in cloak-and-dagger scenarios – was known to very few. Upon Henk’s arrival in Amsterdam his own life becomes inextricably bound up with that of his late aunt.
And over the next thirty nights in Holland’s capital city many secrets will be revealed and Henk will return to South Africa a changed man.
The translator
Michiel Heyns has written several novels; his latest, Bodies Politic, won the 2009 Herman Charles Bosman Award for English Fiction.
He won the English Academy’s Sol Plaatje Award for Translating (2008) as well as the South African Translators’ Institute Award for a Literary Translation for his translation of Agaat.
# Recent awards
30 Nagte in Amsterdam received:
• the Hertzog Prize
• the WA Hofmeyr Award
• the M-Net Book Prize
• the University of Johannesburg prize for Literature
• Leap Year, first published in Afrikaans as Die stoetmeester, was originally published in 1997 and the English edition has been out of print for more than a decade. It was nominated for the 1999 International Dublin Literary Award. The novel, set against the backdrop of the Eastern Cape in a time of great political upheaval, tells the story of the Butler family and the impact that their unusual breed of goats has on their lives and the members of their farming community. Click here for more information on Leap Year.
• Ancestral Voices, the English translation of Toorberg, was first published in 1989 and has been out of print since 2001. The book gives us a vision of the Afrikaner inheritance through the eyes of the insular Moolman family. This was Van Heerden’s first international breakthrough novel. It won all the major Afrikaans literary awards in South Africa when it appeared, and established its author as the leading novelist of his generation. Click here for more information on Ancestral Voices.
# UCT MA Creative Writing student Nicole Jaekel-Strauss publishes her manuscript written under Etienne van Heerden's supervision to great acclaim:
# Recent awards
