Anoeschka von Meck (born 1967) is a Namibian author who writes in the

Afrikaans language Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento that speaks the Patagonian dialect. It evolved from the Dutc ...

Biography

Von Meck is of

German descent Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War ...

, and was born in Mariental, and lived for a while in

Henties Bay Henties Bay ( English, literally: ''Henty's Bay''. Afrikaans: ''Hentiesbaai'', German: ''Hentiesbucht'') is a coastal town in the Erongo Region of western Namibia. The town had 7,569 inhabitants in 2023, an increase from 3,285 in 2001. Establish ...

. In 1983, von Meck moved to the United States to finish high school, graduating from

Lynchburg Christian Academy Liberty Christian Academy (LCA, founded as Lynchburg Christian Academy) is a private Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia. Founded in 1967 by Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell Sr. as a ministry of Thomas Road Baptist Church and a segregation acad ...

in Virginia. She then studied at

Saddleback College Saddleback College is a public community college in Mission Viejo, California. It is part of the California Community College system and awards over 300 associate degrees, academic certificates, and occupational skills awards in 190 programs. ...

before moving to San Francisco to study

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

and

comparative religions Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

. Whilst in the United States, von Meck won the Golden Poet Award, given by the International Poetry Society. Von Meck returned to Africa and studied

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

and

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

in the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

and

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

. She then worked as a matron in a children's home and then as a journalist. She was a full-time reporter for ''

Die Republikein ''Republikein'' () is an Afrikaans-language newspaper published daily in Namibia and the country's largest Afrikaans-language newspaper in terms of print circulation. Its editor-in-chief is Henriette Lamprecht. History The newspaper was founde ...

''. Von Meck's breakthrough novel, ''Vaselinetjie'', was published in 2004. It won three literary awards: the Rapport/Jan Rabie Prize for fresh, new literary voices in Afrikaans, the MER Prize for Youth Literature, and the M-Net Prize for an Afrikaans text in short format. Although the novel was awarded the MER Prize, "it was widely felt that the author did not intend the novel to be for

young adults In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

." ''Vaselinetjie'' is a "true-life story on an abandoned child found lying next to railway lines at the coast and adopted by a coloured () couple." The young protagonist gets her unusual name ("Vaseline") from her shiny skin, due to her grandparents rubbing Vaseline on her skin because of her bad dry skin, caused of the sun. ''Vaselinetjie'' was adapted for the

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

and performed in Cape Town in 2010. A film based on the novel was released in 2017.

Selected works

*''Annerkant die Longdrop'', 1998 *''Vaselinetjie'', 2004 *''Essie Honiball - Die Ontwaking'', 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Von Meck, Anoeschka 1967 births Living people White Namibian people Afrikaner people Afrikaans-language writers Saddleback College alumni University of Cape Town alumni Stellenbosch University alumni People from Hardap Region Namibian people of German descent Namibian expatriates in South Africa Namibian expatriates in the United States 21st-century Namibian women writers 21st-century Namibian writers Namibian journalists Namibian women journalists