Deon Meyer

Last updated

Deon Meyer
Deon Meyer01.jpg
Deon Meyer, South African novelist.
Born (1958-07-04) 4 July 1958 (age 65)
Paarl, Western Cape,
South Africa
OccupationNovelist, screenwriter
Language Afrikaans
NationalitySouth African
Alma mater University of Potchefstroom
Period1999 – present
Genre Crime/Thriller fiction
Notable awards Grand prix de littérature policière 2003 Prix Mystère de la critique 2004
Website
deonmeyer.com

Deon Godfrey Meyer is a South African thriller novelist, [1] writing primarily in Afrikaans. His works have been translated into 28 languages. [2] He has also written numerous scripts for television and film. [3]

Contents

Life and career

Meyer was born on 4 July 1958 in Paarl. He matriculated in 1976 at the Schoonspruit High School in Klerksdorp. He studied at Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education where he studied for a BA with English and History as majors. He later obtained an honours degree at the University of the Free State. He was a long-time resident of historical coastal resort of Melkbosstrand where he wrote most of his novels.

In the 1980s he worked as a journalist at Die Volksblad, at the public relations office of the University of the Free State, and began work as advertising copy writer at Sanlam. In 1991 he was appointed manager of Internal Communication and creative director of Sanlam's Publicity department. After leaving Sanlam he started his own business specialising in the creation and management of virtual communities on the internet. He then worked as manager of special projects at BMW motorcycles. He currently writes full-time. [4] His hobbies include touring Southern Africa on a motorcycle. [5]

Novels

Deon Meyer's novel-writing career started when the Afrikaans magazine, Huisgenoot, published a short story he had submitted. [6] Since then, he has written fifteen novels and two short story collections. His novels reflect current social issues in South Africa, [7] [8] including that of the apartheid system. [9] His main characters are flawed but empathetic cops. [10]

Bibliography

Benny Griessel series

  • (2004) Infanta (English title: Devil's Peak — published in 2007)
  • (2008) 13 Uur (English title: Thirteen Hours — published in 2010)
  • (2011) 7 Dae (English title: Seven Days — published in 2012)
  • (2013) Kobra (English title: Cobra — published in 2014)
  • (2015) Ikarus (English title: Icarus — published in 2015)
  • (2017) Die vrou in die blou mantel (English title: The Woman in the Blue Cloak - published in 2018)
  • (2018) Prooi (English title: The Last Hunt — published in 2019)
  • (2020) Donkerdrif (English title: The Dark Flood — published in 2021)

Film and television rights

Feniks ( Dead Before Dying ) was the first novel for which film rights were awarded. The screenplay, written by South African writer Johann Potgieter, was finalised in 2008 but was never made into a motion picture. It was adapted again in 2015 by German TV-producer Annette Reeker as Cape Town , an international co-produced TV-series.

In August 2009 the film rights for 13 Uur (Thirteen Hours) were awarded to British producers Malcolm Kohll and Robert Fig. Roger Spottiswoode was appointed to direct the film. The film rights for Proteus (Heart of the Hunter) were granted to a South African company. "Transito" was specially written for television and aired in 2008. The novel Orion (Dead at Daybreak) was dramatised for television.

The 2019 South African TV series Trackers is based on Meyer's 2011 novel of the same name. It premiered in the US on June 5, 2020. Devil's Peak, the first Benny Griessel novel, is being adapted as a five episode TV series for M-Net, with Hilton Pelser starring as Griessel. [11]

Awards and nominations

Meyer’s novels have been nominated for and have won numerous awards. [12]

Blood Safari won the inaugural ATKV Prize for Best Suspense Fiction in 2008. It also received the German Krimi Award (third place) in 2009.

Dead at Daybreak won the French Prix Mystère de la critique 2004. It was awarded best television script for a South African series by the Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuurvereniging in 2007 and won the ATKV Prose Prize in 2000. It was shortlisted for the Swedish Martin Beck Award for best translated crime fiction in 2008, the M-Net Book Prize, and the Sunday Times Literary Prize.

Dead before Dying (French title Jusqu'au Dernier) won Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière 2003.

Devil’s Peak won the Martin Beck Award ("Den gyllene kofoten" or The golden crowbar) by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers in 2010. It also won ATKV Prose Prize for 2004 and the Readers' Award from CritiquesLibres.com for Best Crime Novel or Thriller in 2010.

Heart of the Hunter (Afrikaans title Proteus) won the ATKV Prose Prize in 2003 and the Deutscher Krimi Preis in 2006.

13 Hours won the ATKV Prize for Best Suspense Fiction in 2009 and the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize (Exclusive Books Fanatics choice) in 2011.

Seven Days (Afrikaans title 7 Dae) won the M-Net Literary Award (Film category) in 2012. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Hambidge</span> Afrikaans poet, literary theorist and academic

Joan Helene Hambidge, is an Afrikaans poet, literary theorist and academic. She is a prolific poet in Afrikaans, controversial as a public figure and critic and notorious for her out-of-the-closet style of writing. Her theoretic contributions deal mainly with Roland Barthes, deconstruction, postmodernism, psychoanalysis and metaphysics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Temple</span> Australian crime fiction writer

Peter Temple was an Australian crime fiction writer, mainly known for his Jack Irish novel series. He won several awards for his writing, including the Gold Dagger in 2007, the first for an Australian. He was also an international magazine and newspaper journalist and editor.

Etienne van Heerden, born 3 December 1954, is a South African author.

The Exclusive Books Boeke Prize is a book prize which was awarded in South Africa from 1995 to 2012.

Dewald Louw is the winner of the first season of The Afrikaans KykNET Idols in South Africa.

François Bloemhof, is a South African author, playwright, composer, copywriter and film reviewer. He writes mostly in Afrikaans and has won a number of prizes for his work.

Carellina Pieternella (Lina) Spies is an Afrikaans poet and academic.

Antoinette Louw is a South African actress.

Christian Johan Barnard, known as Chris Barnard, was a South African author and movie scriptwriter. He was known for writing Afrikaans novels, novellas, columns, youth novels, short stories, plays, radio dramas, film scripts and television dramas.

Afrikaanse Idols was a special season of South African reality interactive show Idols South Africa based on the British talent show Pop Idol. In difference to the rest of the series this season was held entirely in Afrikaans as the host, judges and contestants did not speak English on the show and every song was performed in Afrikaans.
Although the set and stage design remained the same, the entire judging panel was formed new consisting of Afrikaans-speaking singers Mynie Grové, Taliep Petersen, who was murdered just a few weeks after the competition ended and media personality Deon Maas. The show also switched channels to KykNET, an Afrikaans sisters station of MNet and was hosted by boyband member Sean Else (Eden). The Afrikaans season was aired between the third and fourth English seasons of the show. Dewald Louw from Bloemfontein won the show. Before that he was also a contestant on the second English season of the show where he made the top 24. He also auditioned for season three but failed to progress from the first round. Next to a recording contract with Sony BMG, winner Dewald Louw also won a Peugeot 206, R50,000 from the ATKV, a Shure microphone, R3200 worth of prizes from Look &Listen, a laptop computer and a gift pack from Truworths valued at R10,000.

Daniel Sleigh is a South African novelist who writes in Afrikaans. He was born on the farm Geelbeksfontein on the West Coast on 3 November 1938. He matriculated at Vredenburg High School and then joined the South African Navy. Until 1962, he studied at the Paarl Training College to become a Physical Education teacher, after which he taught in Namibia and Cape Town.

Marita van der Vyver is an Afrikaans author who has written several books for both adult and youth audiences. Since 1999, she has been living in France with her husband and four children. Van der Vyver wrote a collection of humorous essays detailing life in the countryside of France, titled Die hart van ons huis in 2004, after which her first volume of short stories, Bestemmings was released, together with an English counterpart.

Wilna Adriaanse is a South African Afrikaans romantic fiction writer. Her first book, Die wingerd sal weer bot, was published in 2000 under the name Wilmine Burger. Her book, 'n Heildronk op liefde, won the 2003 Lapa Publishers’ Prize for Romance and in 2009 she was awarded the ATKV-Woordveertjie prize for her novel, Die boek van Ester.

<i>Dead at Daybreak</i> Crime novel written by Deon Meyer

Dead at Daybreak is the second crime novel written by South African thriller novelist, Deon Meyer. Its Afrikaans title is Orion, and it has been translated into English by Madeleine van Biljon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Kalmer</span> South African novelist, essayist, and playwright (1956–2019)

Harold (Harry) Kalmer was a South African novelist, essayist and playwright both in English and his home language Afrikaans.

Barrie Michael Hough was a South African author, journalist, playwright, and critic. He is best known for writing youth literature. He wrote in his native Afrikaans, however several of his works have been translated into English.

Chris Karsten is a South African journalist and writer writing in Afrikaans who has received numerous awards for his writing.

<i>Dead Before Dying</i> 1999 novel by Deon Meyer

Dead Before Dying is a novel written by South African novelist Deon Meyer. It was first published as Feniks in Afrikaans in 1996 before being translated by Madeleine van Biljon in 1999. The novel has been adapted into a series known as Cape Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carel van der Merwe</span> South African lawyer, naturalist, poet and writer

Carel van der Merwe is a South African author, historian and businessman who writes in Afrikaans and English. He has been awarded a number of literary prizes for his fiction and non-fiction books.

<i>The Dark Flood</i> 2020 novel written by Deon Meyer

The Dark Flood is a detective novel written by Deon Meyer as the seventh installment of the Benny Griessel Mysteries and his 14th crime novel. Originally published in Afrikaans by Human and Rousseau in 2020, the novel was translated by K.L. Seegers into English and published in the U.S and UK in 2022. It follows two detectives, Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido, who are demoted from the elite Hawks unit of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Sandra Steenberg, a real-estate agent in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

References

  1. Edward Gorman, Martin Harry Greenberg, The deadly bride, and 21 of the year's finest crime and mystery stories page 11
  2. "Deon Meyer's biography". www.deonmeyer.com. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  3. "Welkom by Deon Meyer se webwerf". 3 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  4. Publisher's web site
  5. Gallery "Deon Meyer - South African crime author. Welcome to the official site". Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  6. "Deon Meyer - South African crime author. Welcome to the official site". 6 December 2010. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  7. Lucy Valerie Graham, State of Peril: Race and Rape in South African Literature page 187
  8. Meyer, Deon (9 September 2014). "Oscar Pistorius trial exposes our insatiable hunger for death". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  9. Reyes Torres, Agustín (2011). "Investigating the New South Africa: An Interview with Deon Meyer on Dead Before Dying" (PDF). Anglistica. 15 (1): 79–89.
  10. "Who's who of South African crime writing". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  11. Goldbart, Max (8 September 2022). "'Gentleman Jack' Producer Lookout Point Behind South African Adaptation Of 'Devil's Peak' With Expanded Media". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  12. "Awards listed on Meyer's web site". Archived from the original on 20 November 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  13. Carolyn (19 October 2012). "The 2012 M-Net Literary Awards Winners". Books LIVE. Retrieved 19 October 2012.