Cecile Cilliers

Cecile Cilliers (May 24, 1933 – June 16, 2018) was an Afrikaans freelance journalist and writer.

Early life and education

Anneke Cecile Pretorius was born in Franschhoek in 1933 as the second youngest of four children. The famous author Madeleine van Biljon is one of her sisters. She has another sister, Rouxline (also called Polla), and a brother, Nicholas. Abraham Johannes (Braam) Pretorius, her father (born 10 May 1900 at Rustenburg, was a clerk in the magistrate's office, and her mother is Madeleine Roux. Her father was a Senator and was tallest magistrate in South Africa. As a result of his profession as magistrate, the family moved around a lot.

Cilliers began her schooling in Paarl, after which she went to Johannesburg to Jan Celliers Primary School. Her high school education was at Montagu, where she matriculated. After her matric year, her father was transferred to Johannesburg and she enrolled for a secretarial course at the Technical College. However, she realized that this would not offer her an attractive career. A year later, she joined University of Pretoria where she obtained a B.A. degree in Afrikaans-Dutch, English, German, French and Art History as subjects.

Career

She is predominantly known for her essays, but also published among others a children's collection and a number of religious books. She was involved in the N.G. Kerk and was the first non-ministerial woman to be elected vice-chairperson of the Sinodal Committee. In addition to her performance of the Christian Network Television's Program Focus Point, she also presented the television program Boeksusters on KykNET with her sister, Madeleine van Biljon.

Awards The Tuks Alumni Association honoured her in 2011 with the Laureate Award. She is also an honorary citizen of Biesies Valley in the Northern Cape.

Publications

Her works include: