Chris Karsten (born 9 November 1947) [1] is a South African journalist and writer writing in Afrikaans who has received numerous awards for his writing.
Chris Karsten was born on 9 November 1947 in Morgenzon in Mpumalanga. He matriculated from the Hoërskool Hoogenhout in Bethal. Afterwards, he studied further at the University of Pretoria and in 1970 earned a B.A with Afrikaans-Dutch and psychology as majors. In 1971 he began his career as a journalist for Die Volksblad in Bloemfontein. With the support of Beeld in 1974 he moved to Johannesburg. He returned to Die Volksblad as editor and was also the representative for Nasionale Koerante in Zimbabwe, head of Die Volksblad newspaper and parliamentary reporter. Later he became news editor and member of the newspaper's editorial team. He moved to George, where he served as bureau-head for Rapport. He married Simone, who was born in Canada and came to South Africa as a child. In 2010 they decided to emigrate to the land of her birth, and settled in the small fishing village Lunenburg in Nova Scotia. They have three sons, Christoff, Eric and Udo. Christoff died at the age of twenty in a car accident.
Numerous of his short stories appeared in magazines before he published his first book, the children's story Floris Sapiens. [2] The title of the book is derived from the Florisbad excavation site in the Free State. The book is science-fiction and covers a group of prehistoric children. Floris and his friend Saldanna refuse to blindly follow tradition and go on an adventure to experience new things. In 1985 he was awarded the Sanlam Prize (Silwer) for Children's Literature for Floris Sapiens. Die jokkie wat met perde kon praat was also aimed at children and is the story of a black boy, Letsie, who is unable to speak and is taken in by a white family, the parents of the narrator Billy. [3] Although unable to speak, Letsie is excellent at horseriding and can speak telepathically with horses.
Following this, he focused on work for adults. "Frats" is a novel about Khoena, based on the life of Saartjie Baartman. In 2008 "Frats" won the ATKV Prose Prize. After this, Karsten switched to crime fiction. "Seisoen van sonde" is about a serial killer. The book won an ATKV prize in 2010, and was also on the shortlist for an M-Net prize.
Year | Publications |
---|---|
Fiction | |
1985 | Floris Sapiens |
1997 | Die jokkie wat met perde kon praat |
2007 | Frats |
2009 | Seisoen van sonde |
2010 | Abel se ontwaking |
2011 | Abel se lot |
2012 | Die afreis van Abel Lotz |
2013 | ’n Man van min belang |
2014 | Die respektabele meneer Hartslief |
2015 | Die verdwyning van Billy Katz |
Non-fiction | |
2007 | Dodelike vroue: Wanneer passie in bloed eindig |
Opspraak deur moord: Suid-Afrikaanse doodslag skok | |
Riller in die raaisel: Onopgeloste Suid-Afrikaanse misdade ( ISBN 978-0-7981-4718-7) | |
Verlore onskuld: Suid-Afrikaanse kinders wat moor en roof | |
2008 | Boos en bisar |
Suid-Afrikaanse geweldenaars sonder genade | |
2009 | Charlize: Ek leef my droom |
2007 | Unsolved : No Answers to Heinous South African crimes ( ISBN 978-0-7981-4843-6) |
Albertha Magdalena Bouwer was a South African Afrikaans-writing journalist and author. She is best known for her series of children's stories about the experiences of a small girl called Alie growing up in the fictional location Rivierplaas in rural Free State. Late in life she published a novel for adults, Die afdraand van die dag is kil, about two women in old age.
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