Troy Blacklaws is a writer and teacher from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He was born on 9 September 1965 in Pinetown, Natal Province. After his schooling at

Paarl Boys' High School Paarl Boys' High School, known in Afrikaans as Hoër Jongenskool Paarl (also known as Boishaai) is one of the oldest schools in South Africa, built in 1868. The school is situated in Paarl, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The ...

he studied at

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

before being conscripted in to the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

. After serving in the army Blacklaws began teaching English. He is currently teaching at the

International School of Luxembourg The International School of Luxembourg (ISL) is a privately owned non-profit international school located in Hollerich, Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. History The school was founded in 1963 under the name DuPont de Nemours Private Sc ...

. Blacklaws' first novel, ''Karoo Boy'', was published in 2004. The book was described as "a riotous vision of 1976 Cape Town" in Anderson Tepper's ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' review and "sensual, cinematic" in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. His second novel was ''Blood Orange'', the story of a white boy in Africa. It was first published in 2005 and is a fusion of memoir and fiction. The novel was adapted for the stage by Blacklaws, Greig Coetzee and Craig Morris. The play, directed by Coetzee, was first performed by Morris at 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, in July 2006. In 2010 Blacklaws published a fable: ''Bafana Bafana : A Story of Soccer, Magic and Mandela''. Art by Andrew Stooke.

Vikas Swarup Vikas Swarup (born 22 June 1961) is a retired Indian diplomat and writer. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service as the Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs, India on 30 June 2021 and has previously served as High Commissione ...

, author of ''

Slumdog Millionaire ''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...

'', had this to say of it: "A magical fable. Troy Blacklaws effortlessly conjures up the sights, sounds and rhythms of the South African landscape." His third novel, ''Cruel Crazy Beautiful World'', was published in 2011 in South Africa. The words of the title are taken from a song by

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and anti-apartheid activist, some of whose work was in musicology focused on the music of indigenous South African people ...

. The story is set in post-apartheid South Africa in 2004.

Novels

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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blacklaws, Troy Living people 1965 births South African writers Alumni of Paarl Boys' High School