Eben Venter

Eben Venter is an Afrikaans-speaking writer who was born in Burgersdorp in South Africa and has lived in Australia, Japan and the Netherlands. He published thirteen works of fiction. His works have been translated into English, Dutch and German.
He was awarded the M-Net Literary Award in 2010 for his book Santa Gamka.

Life

Venter was raised on a farm in Eastern Cape. He went to Grey College in Bloemfontein before he was conscripted into the air force and served on the Angolan border. He obtained an MA in Philosophy and worked as a journalist in Johannesburg before leaving South Africa in 1986, during the State of Emergency. He went to Australia where he worked as a chef in his sibling's café.
In 2005, Venter taught at Adam Mickiewicz University and Palacky University before becoming a writer-in-residency at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in 2007.
On August 4, 2010, Venter was nominated for the M-Net Literary Award in the Afrikaans category for his book Santa Gamka.
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University awarded him as an alumni achiever in November 2011. In 2012, he was writer-in-residence at Rhodes University. In 2018, Venter released his first book created in English instead of Afrikaans titled ''Green as the sky is blue.''

1986 Witblitz
1993 Foxtrot van die vleiseters, translated into German by Stefanie Schäfer and Dutch by Riet de Jong-Goossens
1996 Ek stamel, ek sterwe, translated into English by Luke Stubbs and Dutch by Riet de Jong-Goossens
1999 My simpatie, Cerise
2000 Twaalf
2003 Begeerte
2006 Horrelpoot, translated into English by Luke Stubbs
2009 Santa Gamka
2010 Brouhaha
2013 Wolf, Wolf, translated into English by Michiel Heyns
2017 Groen soos die hemel daarbo, translated into English by the author
2023 Decima, translated into Afrikaans by the author