Gert Vlok Nel (

Beaufort West Beaufort West (Afrikaans: ''Beaufort-Wes''; Xhosa: ''eBhofolo'') is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is the largest town in the arid Great Karoo region, and is known as the "Capital of the Karoo". It forms part of the Beau ...

, 1963) is a South African

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

. He studied English, Afrikaans and history at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

and worked as a guide, a bartender and a watchman. He has published one collection of poems, ''Om te lewe is onnatuurlik'' (To live is unnatural), for which he received the

Ingrid Jonker Prize The Ingrid Jonker Prize is a literary prize for the best debut work of Afrikaans or English poetry. It was instituted in honor of Ingrid Jonker after her death in 1965. The yearly prize, consisting of R10,000 and a medal, is awarded alternately to ...

in 1994. His countryman

Etienne van Heerden Etienne van Heerden, born 3 December 1954, is a South African author. Biography Van Heerden was born in 1954, six years after the official advent of apartheid. His mother was an English speaking mathematics teacher. His father, an Afrikaans speak ...

praised Vlok Nel as 'one of our finest talents'. ''Om te lewe is onnatuurlik'' was followed by a CD, ''Beaufort Wes se beautiful woorde'', an autobiographical sketch and a full-length show with poems, songs and visual material, which he has performed all over South Africa. Some people say he is a travelling bard with a guitar, comparable to

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and the South African troubadour Koos du Plessis. He himself says he admires

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

and

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

(‘Tom Waits, he messes about, just like me’). In his début collection, Vlok Nel paints a personal portrait of his childhood in

, a rural part of South Africa with a predominantly poor-white population. His father was a railway employee. Vlok Nel writes his lyrics in an unusual and innovative Afrikaans, comparable with, if anything, the language experiments of Antjie Krog. The Dutch poet

Gerrit Komrij Gerrit Jan Komrij (30 March 1944 – 5 July 2012) was a Dutch poet, novelist, translator, critic, polemic journalist and playwright. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s writing poetry that sharply contrasted with the free-form poetry of his ...

included eight of Vlok Nel's poems in his anthology of South African poetry in Afrikaans ''De Afrikaanse poëzie in 1000 en enige gedichten''. Gert's re-released album entered the Dutch charts at number 59 in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlok Nel, Gert 1963 births Living people People from Beaufort West Afrikaans-language poets Afrikaans-language writers 20th-century South African poets Date of birth missing (living people) South African male poets Stellenbosch University alumni 20th-century South African male writers