// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Michiel Heyns a good writer? He's a hey-nce at it.

Michiel Heyns
Born	(1943-12-02)2 December 1943 Stellenbosch, South Africa
Occupation	Author, Translator, Academic
Nationality	South African

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 a professor of English at the University of Stellenbosch, from 1983 until 2003.

Since then he has concentrated on his writing full-time, and has won numerous awards for his reviews, translations and novels.

Novels

• The Children’s Day, Jonathan Ball (2002)
• The Reluctant Passenger, Jonathan Ball (2003)
• The Typewriter's Tale, Jonathan Ball (2005)
• Bodies Politic, Jonathan Ball (2008)
• Lost Ground, Jonathan Ball (2011)
• Invisible Furies, Jonathan Ball (2012)
• A Sportful Malice, Jonathan Ball (2014)
• I am Pandarus, Jonathan Ball (2017)
• A Poor Season for Whales, Jonathan Ball (2020)
• Each Mortal Thing, Umuzi (2023)

Translations

• Marlene van Niekerk, Agaat (2006)
• Marlene van Niekerk, Memorandum: A Story with pictures (2006)
• Tom Dreyer, Equatoria (2008)
• Etienne van Heerden, 30 Nights in Amsterdam (2011)
• Chris Barnard, Bundu (2011)
• Eben Venter, Wolf, Wolf (2013)
• Ingrid Winterbach, It Might Get Loud (2015)
• Ingrid Winterbach, The Shallows (2017)
• Ingrid Winterbach, The Troubled Times of Magrieta Prinsloo (2019)
• Elsa Joubert: Cul-de-Sac (2019)
• Willem Anker, Red Dog (2019)
• SJ Naude, Fathers and Fugitives (2023)

Awards

• 2006 Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews in 2006
• 2007 Sol Plaatje Prize for Translation for Agaat
• 2008 South African Translators' Institute Prize for Agaat
• 2009 Herman Charles Bosman Award for Bodies Politic
• 2010 Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews in 2010
• 2012 Herman Charles Bosman Award for Lost Ground
• 2012 The Sunday Times Fiction Prize for Lost Ground
• 2013 Prix de l'Union Interalliee for the French Translation of The Typewriter's Tale
• 2015 Herman Charles Bosman Award for A Sportful Malice
• 2019 SALA Prize for Literary Translation for Red Dog.
• 2020 Sol Plaatje Prize for Translation for The Shallows
• 2021 University of Johannesburg Prize for Literary Translation for Red Dog