Christopher van Wyk

Christopher van Wyk (19 July 1957 – 3 October 2014) was a South African children’s book author, novelist and poet. Van Wyk is famous for his poem "In Detention" on the suspicious deaths that befell South African political prisoners during Apartheid. He was also an editor at Ravan Press.

Life and work

Van Wyk was born in Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. When he was a little older, his family moved to Riverlea, a suburb outside of Johannesburg. He was educated at Riverlea High School in Riverlea, Johannesburg, where he lived until 2005. His autobiographical novel Shirley, Goodness & Mercy details his childhood growing up in Riverlea. The follow-up novel, Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch, continues this theme. Van Wyk worked as a clerk for the independent South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED) as an educational writer of accessible literature for new readers. He was also editor of Staffrider from 1981 to 1986 and in 1980 started the short-lived Wietie magazine with Fhazel Johennesse. One of Van Wyk’s most notable achievements was his abridgement of Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom for children.

Van Wyk died in Johannesburg on 3 October 2014, aged 57.

Writing

During the literary explosion among black writers that followed the Soweto uprising in 1976 van Wyk published a volume of poetry, It Is Time to Go Home (1979), that won the 1980 Olive Schreiner Prize. The play was written by Meas and directed by Christo Davids. The actors previously shared the stage in 2007 as "old" and "young" Chris, respectively, in a production van Wyk's memoir, Shirley Goodness and Mercy, adapted by Janice Honeyman, and performed at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and at the Market Theatre.

Honorary Doctorate of Literature

At a graduation ceremony on 27 March 2019, van Wyk was posthumously awarded the degree of Doctor of Literature (DLitt) (honoris causa) by the University of the Witwatersrand.

Publications Memory(....) Maria (1966) It is Time To Go Home (1979) A Message in the Wind (1982) Petroleum and the Orphaned Ostrich (1988) Oliver Tambo (1994) My Cousin Thabo (1995) April in the Cape of Storms (1996) The Year of the Tapeworm (1996) Helen Joseph (2003)

Now Listen Here: The Life and Time of Bill Jardine (2003) Shirley, Goodness and Mercy (2005) "In Detention", poem published in Knowledge4Africa.com (2007) We Write what we like: Celebrating Steve (2007) The Long Walk to Freedom (Children's abridged version) (2009) Nelson Mandela (2010) Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch: A Memoir (2010) Ouma Ruby's Secret (2014)