Wilma Johanna Stockenström (born 7 August 1933) is a South African writer, translator, and actor. She writes in the
Afrikaans language, and along with
Sheila Cussons,
Elisabeth Eybers,
Antjie Krog and
Ina Rousseau, she is one of the leading female writers in the language.[1]
Biography
She was born in
Napier in the
Overberg district of South Africa. After finishing high school, she studied at
Stellenbosch University, where she obtained a BA in Drama in 1952. She moved to
Pretoria in 1954, and married the
Estonian linguist
Ants Kirsipuu. Stockenström has lived in
Cape Town since 1993.
She is one of a handful of writers to have won the
Hertzog prize in two different categories. She won it first for poetry in 1977 and then for fiction in 1991. Her 1981 novel Die kremetartekspedisie was translated into English by the
Nobel Prize winner
J. M. Coetzee under the title The Expedition to the Baobab Tree. Her work has also been translated into Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Turkish and Swedish.
Van vergetelheid en van glans, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1976
Monsterverse, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1984
Die heengaanrefrein, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1988
Aan die Kaap geskryf, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1994
Spesmase, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1999
Die Stomme Aarde: 'n Keur, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 2007
The Wisdom of Water: A Selection (translated by
Johann de Lange), Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 2007
Skoelapperheuwel, skoelappervrou, New York & Pretoria: Ombondi, 1988/2011
Hierdie mens, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 2013
Prose
Uitdraai, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1976
Eers Linkie dan Johanna, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1979
Die kremetartekspedisie, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1981
The Expedition to the Baobab Tree (translated by J. M. Coetzee), Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1983; Brooklyn, NY: Archipelago Books, 2015,
ISBN978-1-935744-92-4
Kaapse rekwisiete, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1987
Abjater wat so lag, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1991
Drama
Dawid die dik dom kat: ’n kindertoneelstuk, Johannesburg: DALRO, 1971
Trippens se patatta, Johannesburg: DALRO, 1971
Laaste middagmaal, Johannesburg: Taurus, 1978
Awards
1977
Hertzog Prize for Poetry for Van vergetelheid en van glans
1984 CNA, Louis Luyt and Ou Mutual Prizes for Monsterverse