Tom Dreyer (born 17 November 1972) is a South African novelist and poet, writing in both English and

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, 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, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

. He went to school in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

, and studied at the

University of Stellenbosch 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 ...

and 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 ...

. He is an alumnus of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa and has been writer-in-residence at universities and institutes across the world. He made his writing debut in the poetry anthology ''Nuwe Stemme'' (Tafelberg Publishers, 1997) and a number of his poems were subsequently included in the anthology ''Afrikaanse Poësie in ‘n Duisend en Enkele Gedigte'' (1999), compiled by Gerrit Komrij. Dreyer has hitherto been better known for his prose work, which has been awarded or shortlisted for significant South African literary awards. His last collection of stories, Kodachrome, was published in August 2022 and has garnered rave reviews. In 2023 his first collection of poems, ''Nou in infrarooi'', was published. It was awarded the ATKV Poetry Prize in 2024 and was shortlisted for the UJ Prize for Afrikaans. Fanie Olivier called it "perhaps the most impressive debut of the past decade or two", while Charl-Pierre Naudé hailed it as "one of the most surprising and invigorating tours de force in the history of the Afrikaans poetry debut".

Novels

*''Erdvarkfontein'', Tafelberg Publishers (1998) *''Stinkafrikaners'', Tafelberg Publishers(2000) *''Equatoria'', Tafelberg Publishers (2006) *''Dorado'', Penguin Random House (2016) *''The Long Wave'', Penguin Random House (2016)

Short stories

*''Polaroid'', Tafelberg Publishers(2007) *''Kodachrome'', Protea (2022)

Poetry

*''Nou in infrarooi'', Kwela Publishers(2023)

Awards

*1998 M-Net Bursary *2001

Eugène Marais Prize The Eugène Marais Prize is a South African literary prize awarded by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns for a first or early publication in Afrikaans. In 1971 it was renamed after the Afrikaans poet and researcher Eugène Marais. T ...

for ''Stinkafrikaners'' *2007 ''Equatoria'' shortlisted for the M-Net Literary Prize *2017 ''Dorado'' shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Fiction Prize (Afrikaans) *2017 ''Dorado'' shortlisted for the KykNet/Rapport Film Prize *2017 ''The Long Wave'' longlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Awards Fiction Prize *2019 Tom Dreyer's poem ''Slaap jy solank dan hou ek die fort'' won the Afrikaans category of the AVBOB national poetry competition. *2024 ATKV Poetry Prize for ''Nou in infrarooi'' *2024 ''Nou in infrarooi'' shortlisted for UJ Prize for Afrikaans *2007 ''Nou in infrarooi'' longlisted for the South African Literary Award: Poetry

References

External links

Tom Dreyer website

Author's page at Penguin Random House

Excerpt from essay in Foreign Policy Magazine

Interview with Tom Dreyer at The Long Wave & Dorado launch party
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dreyer, Tom Afrikaner people People from Stellenbosch South African male novelists 1972 births Living people Stellenbosch University alumni University of Cape Town alumni