John van Melle (11 February 1887 – 8 November 1953) was the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
of a Dutch-born South African writer. His real name was Johannes van Melle.
Van Melle was born in
Goes. He arrived in South Africa in 1906, and after a short sojourn in the
Netherlands East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, settled in South Africa permanently in 1913. He worked as a teacher in many rural schools and soon started to publish in both
Dutch and the newly emerging
Afrikaans language.
Van Melle's best known work is the novel ''Bart Nel'', a classic of
Afrikaans literature. It tells the tale of a farmer whose indomitable spirit allows him to survive the destruction and loss of his farm in wartime and being abandoned by his wife and family.
1887 births
1953 deaths
Dutch emigrants to South Africa
Melle, John Van
South African educators
South African male novelists
20th-century South African novelists
20th-century South African male writers
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