Lina Spies


Carellina Pieternella Spies is an Afrikaans poet and academic.
She received both the 1972 Eugène Marais Prize and 1972 Ingrid Jonker Prize, for her first volume of poetry, Digby vergenoeg. Her translation of Anne Frank's diaries was awarded the translation prize by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.
Spies studied philosophy, languages and literature at Stellenbosch University, the Free University of Amsterdam and the University of Pretoria. She spent most of her career as a university lecturer, variously at the University of Port Elizabeth, the University of Pretoria and Stellenbosch University. An authority on the work of Elisabeth Eybers, Martinus Nijhoff, D.J. Opperman and Hennie Aucamp, Spies was Professor of Afrikaans and Dutch Literature at Stellenbosch University between 1987 and her retirement in 1999. She still lives in the town of Stellenbosch.
On the occasion of her 75th birthday in 2013, the Stellenbosch Woordfees commissioned composer Hendrik Hofmeyr to write a song cycle on six of her poems. The resultant work, Die skaduwee van die son '''' was first performed at the Woordfees by mezzo-soprano Minette du Toit-Pearce and Hendrik Hofmeyr on 10 March 2014. It has since been published in Germany by Edition Kemel and issued on CD in South Africa, performed by du Toit-Pearce and pianist Esthea Kruger.

Volumes of poetry

Digby Vergenoeg Winterhawe Dagreis Oorstaanson Van sjofar tot sjalom Hiermaals Die skaduwee van die son Duskant die einders Die skyn van tuiskoms - a selection from the poet's first 8 volumes of poetry, made by the poet Johann de Lange.Tydelose gety
  • ''Sulamiet''

Non-Fiction

Ontmoetings Kolonnade: ’n Studie van D.J. Opperman se bundels Heilige Beeste, Negester oor Ninevé en Komas uit ’n Bamboesstok binne verband van sy oeuvre

As translator

Agterhuis: Die dagboek van Anne Frank
  • ''Tirza''

As editor or compiler

Majesteit, die kat: Verhale en gedigte oor katte Sy sien webbe roer: 'n Keuse uit die werk van Afrikaanse digteresse