Draft:Francois Terblanche

Francois Terblanche (born 21 January 1994 in Bloemfontein, South Africa) is an award-winning Afrikaans poet, author, motivational speaker and tutor. He has published six poetry albums and two non-fictional publications in Afrikaans. One of his poems has been translated into French and published in an European anthology. In 2023, he published his first Afrikaans creative writing handbook in collaboration with co-author Alet Enslin.

In 2017 Francois Terblanche was named columnist of the year and was the runner-up in the poet of the year category at Ink Skryf in Afrikaans' annual writing awards, and in 2020 he was the winner in two poetry categories for his ballad and elegy. The author Maretha Maartens presented him with an award for his contribution to Afrikaner culture at the annual Radio Rosestad awards in 2018. Four of his poems appear on The AVBOB Poetry Project's online poems library, among others dataverwerking, onromanties, die hart van Hongarye and rykdom

In 2018, Terblanche curated the Pendoring Poetry Competition alongside Ink Skryf in Afrikaans. This collaboration provided a platform for Afrikaans poets across South Africa. The best entries were published in the Pendoring Digters anthology. He was one of the judges of Ink Skryf in Afrikaans annual writing competition in 2022 alongside Karen Zoid and Jackie Nagtegaal.

Early Years and Identity Transformation
Previously known as Francois Meyer, he penned his first poem during his grade 12 year in Fichardt Park High School. Under the name Francois Meyer, he gained recognition for his poetry. “I started writing to find myself in a confused world,” he shared in a 2017 interview with Bloemfontein Courant. He reclaimed his birth surname, Terblanche, in 2022. With this shift, he revisited his existing body of work, republishing it under the name Francois Terblanche.

Volumes of poetry

 * Tempora Animus (2013)
 * Onder die Dekmantel (2015)
 * Digtershart (2016)
 * Pendulum (2017)
 * Tydbom (2019)
 * Skaduman (2022)

Non-fiction

 * Die wêreld deur haar oë (2017)
 * Wetenskap en die Bybel: Volume I (2023)

Academic publications

 * Skryfkuns 101 - Volume 1 (2023)