Michiel Heyns

Michiel Heyns (born 2 December 1943) is a South African author, translator and academic.

He went to school in Thaba 'Nchu, Kimberley and Grahamstown, and later studied at the University of Stellenbosch and Cambridge University before serving as a professor of English at the University of Stellenbosch, from 1983 until 2003.

Since then he has concentrated on his writing full-time, and has won numerous awards for his reviews, translations and novels.

Novels

 * The Children’s Day, Jonathan Ball (2002)
 * The Reluctant Passenger, Jonathan Ball (2003)
 * The Typewriter's Tale, Jonathan Ball (2005)
 * Bodies Politic, Jonathan Ball (2008)
 * Lost Ground, Jonathan Ball (2011)
 * Invisible Furies, Jonathan Ball (2012)
 * A Sportful Malice, Jonathan Ball (2014)
 * I am Pandarus, Jonathan Ball (2017)
 * A Poor Season for Whales, Jonathan Ball (2020)

Translations

 * Marlene van Niekerk, Agaat (2006)
 * Marlene van Niekerk, Memorandum: A Story with pictures (2006)
 * Tom Dreyer, Equatoria (2008)
 * Etienne van Heerden, 30 Nights in Amsterdam (2011)
 * Chris Barnard, Bundu (2011)
 * Eben Venter, Wolf, Wolf (2013)
 * Ingrid Winterbach, It Might Get Loud (2015)
 * Ingrid Winterbach, The Shallows (2017)
 * Ingrid Winterbach, The Troubled Times of Magrieta Prinsloo (2019)
 * Elsa Joubert: Cul-de-Sac (2019)
 * Willem Anker, Red Dog (2019)

Awards

 * 2006 Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews in 2006
 * 2007 Sol Plaatje Prize for Translation for Agaat
 * 2008 South African Translators' Institute Prize for Agaat
 * 2009 Herman Charles Bosman Award for Bodies Politic
 * 2010 Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews in 2010
 * 2012 Herman Charles Bosman Award for Lost Ground
 * 2012 The Sunday Times Fiction Prize for Lost Ground
 * 2013 Prix de l'Union Interalliee for the French Translation of The Typewriter's Tale
 * 2015 Herman Charles Bosman Award for A Sportful Malice
 * 2019 SALA Prize for Literary Translation for Red Dog.
 * 2020 Sol Plaatje Prize for Translation for The Shallows
 * 2021 University of Johannesburg Prize for Literary Translation for Red Dog