Deon Meyer | |
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![]() Deon Meyer, South African novelist. | |
Born | Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa | 4 July 1958
Occupation | Novelist, screenwriter |
Language | Afrikaans |
Nationality | South African |
Alma mater | University of Potchefstroom |
Period | 1999 – present |
Genre | Crime/Thriller fiction |
Notable awards | Grand prix de littérature policière 2003 Prix Mystère de la critique 2004 |
Website | |
deonmeyer |
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]
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]
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]
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, was adapted in 2023 as a five episode TV series for M-Net, with Hilton Pelser starring as Griessel. [11]
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]
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The Exclusive Books Boeke Prize is a book prize which was awarded in South Africa from 1995 to 2012.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
Hilton Pelser is a South African actor. He is known for his roles in the Starz series Dangerous Liaisons (2022) and the Kissing Booth trilogy, as well as the films Moffie (2019) and Glasshouse (2021).
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.
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.
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.