Henning Pieterse

H.J.(Henning) Pieterse was born on 8 August 1960 in Wageningen, the Netherlands. He grew up in Stellenbosch and Pretoria and studied languages and music at the University of Pretoria (UP) and UNISA. He was co-editor (with P.H. Swanepoel) of Perspectives on Language Planning for South Africa(1993) and obtained a doctorate in linguistics in 1994. He was editor of John Boje’s ‘n Keur uit die Pelgrimsverhale van Geoffrey Chaucer (A Selection From the Pilgrim’s Stories of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1989), which was awarded the Academy Prize for Translation (1990). From 1993 to 2003 he was Editor in Chief of Tydskrif vir Letterkunde (Journal of Literature and Literary Studies).

His debut volume of poetry, Alruin (Mandrake), was published in 1989 and awarded the Eugène Marais Prize (1990) and the Ingrid Jonker Prize (1991). In 1998 he published a volume of short stories, Omdat ons alles is (Because We Are Everything), and in 2000 a second volume of poems, Die burg van hertog Bloubaard (The Castle of Duke Bluebeard), for which he received the Hertzog Prize in 2002.

In 2007 his translation of Rilke’s Duineser Elegien (Duino Elegies) into Afrikaans was published, and awarded the Nedbank Academy Prize for Translated Work. Some of his short stories were published in inter alia Liefde loop ver (ed. Jeanette Ferreira, 1999), Kruis en dwars. 37 nuwe verhale oor Suid-Afrika(ed Jeanette Ferreira, 2001), Pomp (2008) and Spoorvat (eds Riana Scheepers and Leti Kleyn, 2013). He also published poems in Versindaba (2005-2007).

As a member of the “Bekgeveg/Poetry Slam” troupe he participated in 70 poetry slams countrywide under the stage name of “Doctor Death” (1999-2005). Internationally he has participated in the 32nd Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam and other festivals in Antwerp, Zagreb and Ghent.

In 2009 he wrote a libretto for an opera, 1894 (a work in progress). Some of his poems and stories have been translated into English, Dutch, German, French, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian and Zulu. He has published numerous academic articles on aspects of linguistics, literature and creative writing and is book reviewer for various publications.

Pieterse is currently translating a selection from Michel Houellebecq’s four volumes of poetry from French into Afrikaans. He is an avid djembe and didgeridoo player. He is Professor and Director of the Unit for Creative Writing, Department of Afrikaans, University of Pretoria.