Willem Anker (born 1979) is a

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

writer who writes in the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...

language. He was born in Citrusdal in 1979. He studied at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) 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 ...

, where he now teaches

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literar ...

. His debut novel, ''Siegfried'', was published in 2007. His most noted work to date is the multi-award winning ''Buys'' (2014) which was translated into English by

Michiel Heyns Michiel Heyns (born 2 December 1943) is a South African author, translator and academic. He went to school in Thaba 'Nchu, Kimberley and Grahamstown, and later studied at the University of Stellenbosch and Cambridge University before serving ...

as ''Red Dog'' and was longlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize.

Awards

* 2008 University of Johannesburg Prize, for ''Siegfried'' * 2015 University of Johannesburg Prize, for ''Buys'' *2015 W.A. Hofmeyr Prize, for ''Buys'' *2016 Hertzog Prize, for ''Buys'' *2016 K. Sello Duiker Memorial Award, for ''Buys''

References

South African writers 1979 births Living people {{SouthAfrica-writer-stub