Michiel Heyns

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