Daniel Sleigh is a South African novelist who writes in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

. He was born on the farm Geelbeksfontein on the West Coast on 3 November 1938. He matriculated at Vredenburg High School and then joined the South African Navy. Until 1962, he studied at the Paarl Training College to become a Physical Education teacher, after which he taught in Namibia and Cape Town. In 1969 he completed his BA Degree in History and English Literature at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Sleigh then completed a MA Degree cum laude, followed by a Doctorate in History in 1987 at the University of Stellenbosch. Until his retirement in 1996, Sleigh worked at the Western Cape Department of Education. He made his literary debut in 1974 with the volume of poetry entitled ''Duif oor water''. This was followed by historical works for young people, like ''Die buiteposte'' and ''Tussen twee vlae''. In 2001 he won the Sanlam/Insig/Tafelberg Competition for his novel Eilande. This novel was later also awarded the WA Hofmeyr, RAU, M-Net and Helgaard Steyn Prizes.

Awards

* C Louis Leipoldt Prize (1971) – ''Duif oor water'' * Winner of the Sanlam/Insig/Kwela Great Novel Competition (2001) – ''Eilande'' *

W.A. Hofmeyr Prize The Media24 Books Literary Awards (known before 2011 as the Via Afrika Awards, and before that as the Nasboek Literary Awards) are a group of five South African literary prizes awarded annually by Media24, the print-media arm of the South African m ...

(2003) – ''Eilande'' * RAU Prize for Creative Writing (2003) – ''Eilande'' * M-Net Prize for Creative Writing in Afrikaans (2004) – ''Eilande'' * Helgaard Steyn Prize (2004) – ''Eilande'' * Medal from the Academy for Science and Culture (2007) * K. Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for ''Afstande'' (2011) *

University of Johannesburg Prize The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing, also known as the UJ Prize, is awarded annually by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) for the best creative works in each of five categories: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Northern Soth ...

for ''Wals met Maltilda'' (2012) * SALA Novel Award for ''1795'' (2018)

List of published works

Poetry
1971 ''Duif oor water'', Tafelberg Prose: novels
1972 ''Die nege-maande-mars'', Tafelberg
1973 ''’n Man om te hardloop'', Tafelberg
1977 ''Sersant Barodien, Kaapse Korps'', Tafelberg
1978 ''’n Kanon vir Barbier'', Tafelberg
1979 ''Vryburger Tas'', Tafelberg
2002 ''Eilande'', Tafelberg
2010 ''Afstande'', Tafelberg
2011 ''Wals met Matilda'', Tafelberg Prose: youth novels
1974 ''Tussen twee vlae'', Tafelberg
1975 ''Onder die bittervaan'', Tafelberg
1976 ''Anselm en die jut'', Van der Walt Non-fiction
1978 ''Jan Kompanjie: die wêreld van die Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie'', Tafelberg
1979 ''Ruiters teen die Ryk'', Nasou
1988 ''The Huguenots'' (with AJ Grant and Ronald Mayo), Maskew Miller Longman
1993 ''Die buiteposte'', HAUM
1996 ''The Forts of the Liesbeeck Frontier'', Castle Military Museum
1999 ''The Ride Against an Empire'', Castle Military Museum Translations ''Eilande'' (2002) into English (''Islands'', 2004) and Dutch (''Stemmen uit zee'', 2004)
''Afstande'' (2010) into Dutch (''De lange tocht'', 2011)

References

External links

Dan Sleigh's biography on publisher's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleigh, Dan Living people 1938 births Afrikaner people Afrikaans-language writers Afrikaans literature South African male novelists Historians of the Dutch East India Company