Description
About
From the Deep South website:
“Chris van Wyk’s first (and only) book of poems, It Is Time to Go Home, was published in 1979 when he was 22 years old. He went on to become a well-known and much-loved writer of memoirs, biographies, fiction and children’s stories. But he continued to write poems; some were published in literary magazines and some in his memoir Shirley, Goodness & Mercy (2004). This volume brings together a selection of these poems, along with a substantial selection from his first book.”
“His style includes a variety of focalisations, a recurring use of irony and an attention to quotidian detail, focusing on the daily lives and lamentations of people around him in the street. No aspect of township life is regarded as too mundane or too insignificant; which demonstrates both his social commitment and his refusal to be content with sloganizing. […] This is one of South Africa’s finest poets. His poetry contains a richness that should inspire future analysis from a number of different thematic and formal angles: this is particularly so, given the fact that the depth and significance of van Wyk’s example and work must have grown unfamiliar to some of our younger generation of readers and admirers of poetry up until now.”
– Kelwyn Sole, New Coin
Author Bio
“Chris van Wyk (1957-2014) grew up and lived most of his life in Riverlea, a small township west of Johannesburg surrounded by mine dumps. He was fascinated by literature from a very young age, and as a teenager began publishing his poems in local newspapers. In 1979 Ad Donker published his book of poems It Is Time To Go Home, which was to be the only collection of his poems published in his lifetime.
Van Wyk wrote over 20 books, including children’s books, fiction and political biographies. He also edited the literary magazine Staffrider from 1981 to 1986. He always found time to give talks and readings, and impart to young people his love of storytelling. His 2004 childhood memoir Shirley, Goodness & Mercy, full of lively humour, became a widely read bestseller.”
