ABSTRACT
ENA JANSEN van Wyk, Chris b. 1957, Soweto, South Africa poet and writer This South African author was born in Soweto and began writing while still at
school. His first collection of poems, It is Time to Go Home, was published in
1979 and was awarded the Olive Schreiner Prize in 1981. He also writes short stories, novels, children’s books, and easy-to-read booklets for adults who are learning to read English. A teenage novel, A Message in the Wind, was published in 1982 and in the same year was awarded the Adventure Africa Award. His short story, “Relatives,” published in 1995, won the Sanlam Award for that year. His novel The Year of the Tapeworm was published in 1996. His short stories and poems have been published in the USA, Canada, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, and Holland. A few of his poems have been anthologized, e.g. “Beware of White Ladies when Spring is Here” and “The Border” in Michael Chapman’s The Paperbook of South African English Poetry (1986). From 1981 to 1986 he edited the South African literary magazine, Staffrider, published by Ravan Press. He now works as a freelance literary editor and a fulltime writer. He has translated the Afrikaans novel, Vatmaar, into English (see Afrikaans literature).
