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Etienne van Heerden

Born

in Johannesburg, South Africa

December 03, 1954

Website

http://www.etiennevanheerden.co.za/

Genre

Literature & Fiction

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Etienne Roché van Heerden grew up in a dual medium household. After matriculating he decided to join the navy, but since he is blind in the right eye, was not called up for combat duty. Instead he served as a dog handler, playing his alsatian at major festivals.

Van Heerden initially studied law, and was admitted to the South African Side Bar as attorney. He freelanced as deputy sheriff for the Civil Court, and moved about in the townships around Cape Town, dispensing civil summonses and learning a great deal about life in these suppressed communities. As a young practitioner, his clients were mostly from the black and coloured crime-ridden communities around Cape Town.

Van Heerden also lectured Legal Practice at the Peninsula Technikon and s Etienne Roché van Heerden grew up in a dual medium household. After matriculating he decided to join the navy, but since he is blind in the right eye, was not called up for combat duty. Instead he served as a dog handler, playing his alsatian at major festivals.

Van Heerden initially studied law, and was admitted to the South African Side Bar as attorney. He freelanced as deputy sheriff for the Civil Court, and moved about in the townships around Cape Town, dispensing civil summonses and learning a great deal about life in these suppressed communities. As a young practitioner, his clients were mostly from the black and coloured crime-ridden communities around Cape Town.

Van Heerden also lectured Legal Practice at the Peninsula Technikon and spent two years in advertising. At age thirty, with the birth of his eldest daughter, Van Heerden left the routine of a budding Cape Town advertising agency. He and his family relocated to northern Natal where he started out on his academic career in Literature at the University of Zululand. His PhD was a study on engagement and postmodernism.

During the eighties he was member of a group of Afrikaans writers secretly meeting the banned ANC of Mandela and exiled writers at the (now famous) Victoria Falls Writers’ Conference, held in Zimbabwe.

He regularly teaches at universities in Europe, and has been Writer in Residence at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, and the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He was a member of the University of Iowa’s prestigious International Writing Program in 1990, and has been back on visits to this university, of which he is an Honorary Fellow in Writing. He regularly reads his fiction at events such as the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the Winter Nights Festival in the Hague, Netherlands, the Time of the Writer Festival in Berlin, Germany, the Zimbabwe Book Fair and other festivals and events internationally.

Van Heerden now teaches at the University of Cape Town, where he is the Hofmeyr Professor in the School of Languages and Literatures, and chairs the Afrikaans and Netherlandic Studies Section. He is also the brain behind the literary e-zine "LitNet".

Van Heerden is married to Kaia, a practising doctor, and lives in Stellenbosch. The couple has two daughters, Imke and Menán.

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Etienne van Heerden's Blog

Etienne van Heerden isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

Reading from ‘Gebeente’

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Published on July 08, 2025 23:53

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Etienne van Heerden’s books

Average rating: 3.81 · 1,518 ratings · 140 reviews · 40 distinct works • Similar authors

	Ancestral Voices 3.90 avg rating — 350 ratings — published 1986 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Long Silence of Mario Salviati: A Novel 4.11 avg rating — 262 ratings — published 2000 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	30 nagte in Amsterdam 3.72 avg rating — 176 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In stede van die liefde 3.56 avg rating — 113 ratings — published 2005 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Die wêreld van Charlie Oeng 4.11 avg rating — 84 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Klimtol 3.73 avg rating — 83 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Die biblioteek aan die einde van die wêreld 3.84 avg rating — 67 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gebeente 4.43 avg rating — 47 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Die stoetmeester 3.42 avg rating — 59 ratings — published 1993 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kikoejoe 3.58 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1998 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Etienne van Heerden (?)

“Dis wat 'n mens Hollands kan maak. Hierdie water wat soos asem om jou is.”
― Etienne van Heerden, 30 nagte in Amsterdam

tags: dutch

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“Anders gestel, Ian: Wat is die afsnypunt van historiese skuld? Uit hoe ver terug mag ons die wandade van voorgeslagte byroep om die huidige geslag mee te blameer? “Ek”
― Etienne van Heerden, Die biblioteek aan die einde van die wêreld

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“Kan jy hulle kwalik neem dat hulle afskep en vat wat hulle meen hulle toekom, omdat hul voorgeslagte so verontmenslik en verkneg en beroof is van volle menslikheid en die volle ontwikkeling van hul potensiaal?”
― Etienne van Heerden, Gebeente

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