Diane Awerbuck

Diane Awerbuck (born 1 April 1974) is a South African novelist. Her most notable novel, Gardening at Night, won the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best First Book (Africa and the Caribbean), and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. In 2011, her collection of short stories, Cabin Fever, was published by Random House Struik. Her novel, Home Remedies, was published by Random House Struik in August 2012. She was shortlisted for the Caine Prize in 2014, and won the Short Story Day Africa competition the same year.

She taught at Rustenburg Girls' High School until 2002. Before this, she worked as a teacher of History at Cedar House; and of Narrative and Aesthetics at AFDA, the film school, both in Cape Town. Her non-fiction has appeared in the Mail & Guardian. She reviews fiction for the South African Sunday Times.

Her essays and short stories are published regularly and her work has been translated into German, Swedish, Mandarin and Russian. Her doctorate is in trauma narratives: The Spirit and the Letter: Trauma, Warblogs and the Public Sphere.

Awerbuck also writes as "Frank Owen", a joint pseudonym used when collaborating with co-writer Alex Latimer. Their cowboy-apocalypse novel project South was published in 2016, with a second volume North following in 2018.

Works

Novels Gardening at night, Secker & Warburg, 2003, Home Remedies, Umuzi / Random House Struik, 2012,

Short stories Cabin Fever, Umuzi / Random House Struik, 2011,

As editor

Commissioning Editor of Anthology, The Ghost-Eater and Other Stories, Umuzi Cape Town, 2013, E-Pub 978-1-4152-0568-6

Interviews Aerodrome Interview with Jennifer Malec, Jennifer Malec, (2013).

Other

Poem in Anthology, African Sun Terra Incognita: African Speculative Fiction Twenty in 20: The Best Short Stories of South Africa's 20 Years of Democracy Ons Klyntji: OK20 The Odyssey The Gonjon Pin and Other Stories Sweet Water Mami Wata The Sea Three Poems in Anthology Atlantis and Colposcopy The Ghost-Eater and Other Stories Ons Klyntji: Bewilderbeast Interview with Jennifer Malec Duiweltjie – The Root Cellar and Other Stories Short Story for Short Story Day Africa 2013 Big Issue : Collector's Edition 2 Stick Man Short story in Anthology Short story in Anthology Radio Broadcast on 'Tales to Terrify', USA Short Story Home Remedies Über(w)unden: Art in Troubled Times Short Story Day Africa Short Story excerpt Cabin Fever Heavenly shades of nights are falling, Short story in literary magazine, 'Ons Klyntji' School photos Short story in Anthology, Elf 2009 Conference: African mythology: Mami Wata The Book Lounge, Cape Town 2008 Kommst du mit? Entanglement The way you look tonight Muddy Waters, Whisky Blues Greenland Der Junge, der Turen offnete En stereo i Soweto The boy who opened doors Gardening at Night The Dirty Knees of the Mother of GodShort Story, Commonwealth Writers Everybody Hurts Gardening at Night The Portable Pilgrim Online Column, 2003 – 2008 – www.extrange.com

Magazine contributions Leadership Glamour House and Garden Design Indaba Real simple O Magazine Ons Klyntji