In the Camel Yard of the late Helen Martins's Owl House, Nieu-Bethesda. She is regarded as a prominent outsider artist. When I was a child on visits to my grandmother in Nieu-Bethesda, I was often warned not to talk to “the witch”.

A concrete reservoir in the Karoo.

A villa in the Karoo.

With Zimbabwean novelist Chenjerai Hove near Fort Hare, Eastern Cape, South Africa (note the ostrich between us). Chenjerai is now in exile in Amsterdam.

With fellow writers in Washington, USA, in the late ’80s.

With school friends Dawie (Vaatjie) de Villiers and Koos Kombuis (now a famous singer) at Hermanus, 1973.

With school friends Dawie (Vaatjie) de Villiers and Koos Kombuis, December 2003.

With Kaia and our daughters on a ski slope in Switzerland

In Times Square, New York, 2003, during the USA book tour for The Long Silence of Mario Salviati.

With literary fathers Jan Rabie (left) and Etienne Leroux (far right), Onrust River, South Africa, 1982.

In Vienna with South African authors Achmat Dangor, Marita van der Vyver and Johnny Masilela and Dutch authors Henk van Woerden and Alfred Schaffer.

With poet Uys Krige, Onrust River, South Africa, during the ‘80s.

Receiving the M-Net Literary Award for 30 Nagte in Amsterdam, 2009.

Receiving the WA Hofmeyr Award for 30 Nagte in Amsterdam, 2009.

With sculptor Paul Boekkooi, Nieu-Bethesda, and his interpretation of the angel in The Long Silence of Mario Salviati, 2010.

With Dutch journalist Michiel Zeeman in The Hague.

With fellow South African novelist Eben Venter at the Boekbedonnerd Literary Festival.

With publisher Kerneels Breytenbach, journalist Dana Snyman, Kaia van Heerden and editor of Die Burger, Bun Booyens, at a World Cup soccer game, Cape Town, 2010.

With organiser Darryl David at the Schreiner Festival, Victoria Manor, Cradock, 2010.