Ingrid de Kok aka Ingrid Fiske (born 1951) is a South African author and poet.

Biography

Ingrid de Kok grew up in

Stilfontein Stilfontein (Afrikaans for ''quiet spring'') is a former mining town which is located on the N12 (National Road) with 17,942 inhabitants, situated between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom in North West Province (South Africa), North West Province of S ...

, a gold mining town in what was then the Western

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

. When she was 12 years old, her parents moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. In 1977, she emigrated to Canada where she lived until returning to South Africa in 1984. She has one child, a son. Her partner is Tony Morphet. De Kok is a fellow of the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, an Associate Professor in Extra-Mural Studies, and part of a team of two that designs and administers the public non-formal educational curriculum that constitutes the Extra-Mural Programmes at the University of Cape Town. She has also designed and co-ordinated national colloquiums and cultural programmes, such as one on Technology and Reconstruction and on Equal Opportunity Policy, and At the Fault Line: Cultural Inquiries into Truth and Reconciliation. She runs various capacity building, civic and trade union programmes, and alternates in the role of Director. She is very well known for being the writer of the poem, "Our Sharpeville", which is a poem about police opening fire on a peaceful protest killing 50 black men. She has also co-ordinated schools and public programmes devoted to the development of a reading culture. She is a member of

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

, South Africa and a Trustee of Buchu Publishing Project. She was a member of the committee of the

National Arts Festival The National Arts Festival (NAF) is an annual festival of performing arts in Grahamstown, South Africa. It is the largest arts festival on the African continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor numbers. Th ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

, South Africa with responsibility for convening the Winter School from 2000 to 2005, and is currently on the National Arts Council Literary Advisory Committee. She is the chair of the South African Association of Canadian Studies. Between 1977 and 2006, de Kok's poems were published in numerous South African literary journals, including ''Upstream'', ''Sesame'', ''

Staffrider ''Staffrider'' was a South African literary magazine that was published between 1978 and 1996. History and profile ''Staffrider'' was first published in March 1978. Its founder was Mike Kirkwood. The magazine took its name from slang for people h ...

'', ''Contrast'', ''New Contrast'', ''New Coin'', and ''Carapace''. Occasionally poems have also appeared, translated into

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 ...

, in various South African Afrikaans newspapers.

Works

* ''Familiar Ground'', Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1988, . * ''Transfer'', Cape Town: Snail Press, 1997, . * ''Terrestrial Things'', Cape Town: Kwela/SnailPress, 2002, . * ''Seasonal Fires: Selected and New Poems'', NYC: Seven Stories Press, 2006, . * ''Seasonal Fires: Selected and New Poems'', South Africa: Umuzi, Random House, 2006, . * ''Mappe del corpo'', A cura di Paola Splendore. Rome: Donzelli Poesia, 2008, .

References

External links

Ingrid de Kok

Africa - Poetry International Web

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Kok, Ingrid 1951 births Living people South African people of Dutch descent Afrikaner people South African women poets South African women writers