  8 May 2004 at Protea Boekhuis: Etienne talking to Herman Wasserman about Die stilte ná die boek | Hofmeyr Professor Afrikaans & Netherlandic Studies School of Languages University of Cape Town Rondebosch 7701 SOUTH AFRICA Tel SA + 21 + 650 2312/20 www.etiennevanheerden.co.za Executive Editor LitNet, a multi cultural online journal Van die redakteur: Op my duimnael 'n Weeklikse instelling waar Etienne van Heerden sy gedagtes met lesers deel. |
Photo by Johan Wilke
Etienne Roché van Heerden was born on 3 December 1954 and grew up in
the
Eastern Cape Karoo where his Afrikaans speaking father was a merino farmer
in
the Graaff-Reinet (Agter-Sneeuberg) and Cradock (Fish River Valley)
districts.
His English mother was a mathematics teacher.
Etienne matriculated from Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch and studied
Law
and
Literature at the Universities of Stellenbosch (BA Honours, cum laude
and LLB),
the
Witwatersrand (MA, cum laude) and Rhodes (PhD, with a thesis on
engagement and
postmodernism)
After articles, he was admitted as an attorney, briefly lectured law at
a
technikon and practised criminal law in the magistrates courts.
He left
lawyer's practice to work in advertising in Cape Town.
During the eighties he was a member of a group of Afrikaans writers
secretly
meeting the banned ANC of Mandela and exiled writers at the ' Victoria
Falls
Writers' Conference', held in Zimbabwe.
Since 1986 he has been teaching Literature, Literary Theory and
Creative
Writing — initially at the University of Zululand in Natal
Province,
thereafter the University of Rhodes in the Eastern Cape, and is now
the Hofmeyr
Professor in the School of Languages and Literatures, and chairs
the Afrikaans
and Netherlandic Studies Section at the University of Cape Town.
He is an
Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa and was a member
of its
prestigious international Writing Program in 1990, and and was Writer
in
Residence at the University of Antwerp in Belgium and the University
of
Leiden, Netherlands. He regularly teaches at universities in Europe and
is
frequently invited to read research papers or his fiction at
academic
conferences and writers'
meetings or seminars (for example the
Edinburgh Festival and Frankfurt Book
Fair).
His satirical cabaret work is a regular feature on the major arts festivals
in
South Africa. His short stories and poems have been published in more than
sixty
anthologies in South Africa and overseas. Most of his work was translated
into
English and Dutch, and some also into German, French, Greek, Danish,
Norwegian,
Finnish and
Swedish. He has been a regular columnist in a variety of
journals and
newspapers in
South Africa, and currently writes a column
syndicated to Die Burger, Volksblad and Beeld. He was the founder editor of LitNet - a multicultural South African web site.
Etienne van Heerden is married to Kaia, a practising doctor, and they have
two
daughters, Imke and Menán.
 Die Swye Van Mario Salviati |  Asbesmiddag |  In stede van die liefde |  Mad Dog and Other Stories |  Kikuyu |
 Brekfis met vier Co-authors: Andre le Roux du Toit, Daniel Hugo, Peter Snyders |
| Novels: Matoli, Perskor, 1978 Om te Awol, Tafelberg, 1984 Toorberg, 1986 Casspirs and Campari's, Tafelberg, 1991 Die Stoetmeester, 1993 Kikoejoe, Tafelberg 1996 Kikoejoe, Tafelberg 1996 (Kikuyu, (Kwela/Random House) English version) Die swye van Mario Salviati, Tafelberg, 2000 (The long Silence of Mario Salviati)  In stede van die liefde, Tafelberg 2005 Asbesmiddag, Tafelberg, 2007 Short Stories: Literary Theory: | Cabaret: Lied van die Boeings, Tafelberg, 1998 Poetry: Collected Editions: Celebratory Editions: Essays: Die stilte ná die boek (66 rubrieke), Tafelberg, 2004 |
Text by Etienne van Heerden, 2000
www.StellenboschWriters.com © Rosemarie Breuer