K. Sello Duiker

Kabelo "Sello" Duiker, (April 13 1974 – January 19 2005), was a South African novelist. His debut novel, "Thirteen Cents", won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book written by an African writer. He also worked in advertising and as a screenwriter, at the time of his death he was working as an editor of drama for SABC1.

Duiker was born in Orlando, Soweto at the height of apartheid. Coming from a moderately wealthy family he was sent to a public school, where he was one of the very few black pupils. During his school-years the schools in South Africa were very much at the centre of the anti-apartheid movement. This personal experience of the social-struggles influenced Duiker greatly, his novels treated racial difference as largely immaterial, being basically cosmetic.

Duiker received a degree in journalism from Rhodes University, he also briefly studied at the University of Cape Town. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 2004 prior to committing suicide by hanging himself in Northcliff, Johannesburg, in January, 2005. His death came a month after that of his contemporary Phaswane Mpe.

Bibliography

*2000 - "Thirteen Cents"
*2001 - "The Quiet Violence Of Dreams"
*2005 - "The Hidden Star"