E-mail us a comment on this writer. (Comments may be edited and used on this website.) About the author At the time of his death in January 2005, K. Sello Duiker was considered the most promising of the emerging generation of black South African writers. He had a large following, based on only two books:    •   thirteen cents (2000) which was awarded the Commonwealth Prize for a first novel (Africa Region) 2001. It has been translated into Italian as Tredici Centesimi: Traduzione di Sara Fruner (2005).    •   The Quiet Violence of Dreams (2001), which was awarded the Herman Charles Bosman Prize for English Literature and was runner-up for the Sunday Times Literary Award (2001). Translated into Dutch as De Schone Geweld van Dromen (2003). Sello Duiker’s short stories appear in a variety of collections. From K Sello Duiker, 2002 "My parents moved around a lot because of my father’s job with an international company. I got the chance to live in England where I first became interested in becoming a writer. I read furiously. Ben Okri’s Famished Road and Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born both influenced me. They were important in shaping my identity as a writer. After school I travelled and worked for a year in France on a farm. I started writing longer prose pieces. When I got back to South Africa in 1995 I went to Rhodes University where I further polished these early manuscripts. I would send them out to publishers just to get a response, not really expecting to be published. Most publishers would just send me one or two lines. And then I came across a publisher by the name of Annari van der Merwe who took the time to write me a detailed report on why my manuscripts didn’t work. It was the beginning of a working relationship. Over the years we corresponded with my manuscripts getting better with Annari’s input. Moving to Cape Town in 1998 was the most important journey I had in cementing my decision to become a novelist … I got to know Cape Town very well, particularly the seedy fringes of Cape Town society." Title published by Umuzi The Hidden Star Heroes and heroines generally get praise and acknowledgement long after they have passed on, but K Sello Duiker was that rarity – an artist whose literary prowess hit us in our collective face with such vehemence that we couldn’t help but sing his praises while he was still alive. — Fred Khumalo, Sunday Times home   writers   books   contact   buy   rights all content © Umuzi, Random House Struik this website designed and maintained by Guanaco.co.za