Patricia Schonstein (born 1952), who also writes under the name Patricia Schonstein-Pinnock, is a South African-Italian novelist, poet, memoirist, author of children’s books and curator of anthologies. Schonstein, whose novels variously employ the genres of magical-realism,

meta-fiction Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and stor ...

and narrative fiction, is famous for novels such as ''Skyline'' and '' A Time of Angels''. Schonstein's novels draw heavily on her personal experiences of growing up in Central Africa and to historical events related to the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, the

Rhodesian War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three forc ...

, and

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. She pays homage to the child-victims of war in Africa and to refugees, weaving together harsh realities with elements of myth and magic. Her work has been translated into Afrikaans, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

Life

Born and raised in

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

(now

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

), Schonstein lives in South Africa where she works as a full-time author.

Literary career

Schonstein holds a master's degree in creative writing from 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 ...

, supervised by 2003 Nobel Literature Laureate

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...

, who has endorsed much of her work. Her poetry has been endorsed by 1984 Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

. Schonstein serves on the Poetry in McGregor committee and presents the annual Patricia Schonstein – Poetry in McGregor Award. She has been an honorary member of Southern African Friendship and Aid Network Sweden (SAFRAN) since 2008, and served as deputy editor of the poetry quarterly, Stanzas (2015-2020).

Awards

* Her debut novel, ''Skyline'', won the French Prix du Marais in 2005; won the

Percy FitzPatrick Award The Percy FitzPatrick Award, in recognition of author Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, was initiated in 1970 for the best South African children's book in English. Initiated in 1970 by the South African Library Association (SALA), initially only books writte ...

in 2002; took second place in the South African Sunday Times Fiction Award in 2001; was long-listed for the 2002 International Dublin Literary Award; was listed in the South African Twenty-Five Must-Reads in 2007; and was listed in the Swedish En Bok for alle. * '' A Time of Angels'' took second place in the South African Sunday Times Fiction Award in 2004; and was short-listed for the 2004 Booksellers’ Choice Award. * ''The Apothecary’s Daughter'' was listed in the Sunday Times Read Your Way Through Democracy in 2014. * ''Banquet at Brabazan'' was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize Africa Best Book in 2011. * Schonstein was the winner of the 1997 Young Africa Award (Short Stories Category).

Works

Novels

* ''Skyline'', 2000 * ''A Time of Angels'', 2003 * ''The Apothecary's Daughter'', 2004 * ''A Quilt of Dreams'', 2006 * ''The Master's Ruse'', 2008 * ''Banquet at Brabazan'', 2010 *''The Inn at Helsvlakte'', 2020

For children

* ''The Phoebe Book of Poems for Children'', 2022 * ''Sing, Africa! Poems and Song for Young Children'', 1990 * ''Thobileʼs dream'', 1991 * ''Thobile and the Tortoises'', 1992 * ''The King Who Loved Birds'', 1992 * ''Maggie, Mango & Scottie – An Adventure in Africa,'' 2016 * ''Ouma's Autumn'', 1993 * ''Saturday in Africa : Living History Through Poetry'', 1996

Poetry

* ''The Unknown Child: Poems of War, Loss and Longing,'' 2009 * ''A Gathering of Madonnas, and Other Poems'', 2001

Non-fiction

* ''Xhosa: a Cultural Grammar for Beginners'', 1994 *''Thrown Among the Bones—My Life in Fiction'', 2022

Curated anthologies

*''Africa! My Africa! An Anthology of Poems'', 2012 *''Africa Ablaze! Poems & Prose Pieces of War & Civil Conflict'', 2013 *''Heart of Africa! Poems of Love, Loss and Longing'', 2014 *''Absolute Africa! An anthology of poems'', 2018 *''Naturally Africa! An anthology of earth poems'', 2019 (Selected with Dan Wylie) * McGregor Poetry Festival 2013 Anthology * McGregor Poetry Festival 2014 Anthology * McGregor Poetry Festival 2015 Anthology * McGregor Poetry Festival 2016 Anthology *McGregor Poetry Festival 2017 Anthology *McGregor Poetry Festival 2018 Anthology *McGregor Poetry Festival 2019 Anthology *McGregor Poetry Festival 2020 Anthology: Love in the Time of Covid *McGregor Poetry Festival 2021 Anthology: The Garden of the Beloved

Appearances in anthologies

* ''Lovely Beyond Any Singing: Landscape in South African Literature'', compiled by Helen Moffett, Double Storey Books, 2006 * ''Nice Times! A Book of South African Pleasures and Delights,'' compiled by Henrietta Rose-Innes, Double Storey Books, 2006 * ''Land i förändring: en bok om det nya Sydafrika,'' edited by Annika Forsberg ''et al'', Bokförlaget Tranan, 2004 * ''Keys'', compiled by Brenda Cooper, Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Ltd, 1998

References

__FORCETOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Schonstein, Patricia 1952 births Living people White Rhodesian people South African people of German descent South African children's writers South African women poets Rhodesian novelists Zimbabwean emigrants to South Africa University of Cape Town alumni South African women novelists South African women children's writers 20th-century Zimbabwean writers 20th-century Zimbabwean women writers 21st-century Zimbabwean writers 21st-century Zimbabwean women writers 21st-century South African writers 21st-century South African women writers White South African people Rhodesian emigrants to South Africa