Mark Winkler (born 29 January 1966) is a South African writer of literary fiction living in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. He is the author of two novels, ''An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Absolutely Everything'' (2013) and ''Wasted'' (2015). His third novel, ''The Safest Place You Know'', is due to be published in September 2016.

Life

Winkler was born in

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 1966. He grew up in what is now

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

and attended high school at

St. Alban's College St. Alban's College is a private, boarding, English medium and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Lynnwood Glen in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It was founded in 1963 by Anton Murray. Its history, influence, ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. He graduated from Rhodes University,

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 ...

, with a Bachelor of Journalism in 1990.

Works

Novels

His first novel, ''An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Absolutely Everything'', has been described as “an intensely absorbing and unapologetically apolitical tale”, and “remarkable in its refusal to conform to ideas of what a South African novel should be”. His second novel, the ''Wasted'', was longlisted for the 2016 Sunday Times

Barry Ronge Fiction Prize The ''Sunday Times'' CNA Literary Awards are awarded annually to South African writers by the South African weekly newspaper the ''Sunday Times''. They comprise the ''Sunday Times'' CNA Literary Award for Non-fiction and the ''Sunday Times'' C ...

. ''Wasted'' has been described as “tense, darkly humorous, unpredictable and thought-provoking”, “one of the year’s most ambitious, suspenseful, tightly controlled and expertly executed novels”.

Short Stories

Winkler’s short story, ''When I Came Home'', was shortlisted for the 2016 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, one of 26 stories to be selected out of almost 4,000 submissions from 47 countries. His short story, ''Ink'', was awarded third prize in the 2016 Short Story Day Africa competition and was published in the anthology Water. Winkler is a member of PEN South Africa.

Published works

* * * ''Ink'', Water, Short Story Day Africa, 2016 * ''When I came home, adda'', Commonwealth Writers, May 2016

References

External links

Tibor JonesPEN South Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winkler, Mark 1966 births Living people South African male novelists Rhodes University alumni People from Johannesburg Writers from Cape Town 21st-century South African novelists 21st-century South African male writers