Yvette Christiansë

Yvette Christiansë (born 12 December 1954) is a South African-born poet and novelist. She currently lives in New York City and teaches at Barnard College. She has also taught at Fordham University, also in New York City.

Biography Yvette Christiansë was born in South Africa while it was still under Apartheid, and, despite poor access to education, was interested in language and becoming a writer from a young age.

Works Christiansë's published work generally deals with South Africa, and contains post-colonial themes such as slavery and displacement.

She is the author of a novel entitled Unconfessed (Other Press, 2006; Kwela Books, 2007; Querido, 2007), and of the poetry collections Castaway (Duke University Press, 1999) and Imprendehora (Kwela Books/Snail Press, 2009). Imprendehora was a finalist for the Via Afrika Herman Charles Bosman Prize in 2010, and Castaway was a finalist in the 2001 PEN International Poetry Prize. Her novel, Unconfessed, was a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction, and received a 2007 ForeWord Magazine BEA Award. It was also shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award in 2008, and nominated for the Ama Ata Aidoo Prize 2010. Christiansë is the recipient of The Harri Jones Memorial Prize for poetry (Australia).