Tom Dreyer
Author. Poet.
BIO
Tom Dreyer is a South African novelist and poet writing in both Afrikaans and English. His novels include Erdvarkfontein, Stinkafrikaners, Equatoria, The Long Wave and Dorado. He has won or been shortlisted for several prestigious South African literary awards. His latest novel, The Long Wave, was longlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Award, and (in Afrikaans translation) shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Prize and the KykNet/Rapport Film Prize.
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His latest collection of stories, Kodachrome, has just appeared.
Tom holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. He is a fellow of the University of Iowa's International Writing Program, and has been writer-in-residence at universities and institutes across the world.
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MEDIA
KODACHROME
LEESD!T ONDERHOUD
BOOK LAUNCH
THE LONG WAVE / DORADO
AUTHOR'S PROFILE
I WISH I'D SAID
IN THE PRESS
LOF VIR KODACHROME
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Ek is mal oor Tom Dreyer se Kodachrome.
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Hou van die manier waarop sy kop werk. Meneer, jy moet daai skedel aan die Smithsonian skenk eendag, dit gaan hulle dekades lank besig hou.
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Die 90 stukke word ’n lewendige volkleur legkaart van Dreyer se lewe en uiteindelik vat hy veel meer as net sy lewe vas. In glorieuse Eastman Kodak branded chroom-gebaseerde kleur sien ons sy gedagtes beweeg, spring en stilte vind. Die legkaart is nie tasbaar nie, dis vlietend en gebonde aan die beusel en blerts van die geheue.
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Die flitse is perfekte woordprente; filmiese prosa; die soort publikasie wat mens met sagte hande hanteer en wat nog lank na die laaste toemaak, in jou hart voortleef.
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Die sjarme van hierdie bundel lê veral in die ontwapenende manier waarop die verteller ’n mens insae gee in sy vrese en onsekerhede, sy behoeftes en drome, sy berou en nimmereindigende hoop op ’n verrukking wat hom – al is dit net vir ’n oomblik – sal laat ontglip aan die realiteit. Die gevoelige vertelstyl en melankoliese toon straal boonop ’n soort begrip en empatie vir die menslike toestand uit wat die leser laat voel: Iemand verstaan my.
LOUISE VILJOEN
NETWERK24
ANSCHEN CONRADIE
UITDIEPERDSEBEK
KERNEELS BREYTENBACH
NETWERK24
PRAISE FOR THE LONG WAVE / DORADO
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"Dreyer has developed his own personal mythology which makes his work not only very recognisable but also strikingly original."
"Van die agterpaaie van die Karoo tot in die agterstrate van Kuilsrivier lees Dorado asof David Lynch en Wim Wenders saam 'n road movie hier kom skiet het. Tom Dreyer ken die taal wat teerpad praat."
"From the backroads of the Karoo to the streets of Kuils River, [The Long Wave] reads as though David Lynch and Wim Wenders came here and shot a road movie together."
"Die boek het wonderlike filmiese elemente en die forlorn karakters is die tipe ouens wat ek graag op 'n road trip in die Karoo sal wil raakloop Dorado is 'n boeiende boek wat 'n mens nie sommer los nie."
LUC RENDERS
WILLEM ANKER
WILLEM ANKER
ERNS GRUNDLINGH
PRAISE FOR THE EQUATORIA
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"Intelligent, multi-layered, and absorbing, Equatoria is an African quest you want to read again and again."
"A spellbinding tale, written in eloquent prose: passionate, comic, and always deeply moving."
"Achingly beautiful prose creates a fever dream of our own dark nature."
"A poetic and thought-provoking meditation on discovery and loss"
DEON MEYER
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MARGARETE LAMB-FAFFELBERGER
JOHN STRALEY, WRITER LAUREATE OF ALASKA
PETER WHITTAKER, NEW INTERNATIONALIST
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AWARDS
1998 MNET BURSARY FOR CREATIVE WRITING
2001 STINKAFRIKANERS AWARDED THE EUGENE MARAIS PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
2004 WINNER OF SABC SCRIPT WRITING COMPETITION FOR SPEKBOOM ALL STARS
2006 EQUATORIA SHORTLISTED FOR MNET LITERARY PRIZE
2017 THE LONG WAVE LONGLISTED FOR SUNDAY TIMES LITERARY PRIZE
2017 DORADO SHORTLISTED FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG PRIZE
2017 DORADO SHORTLISTED FOR KYKNET/RAPPORT FILM PRIZE
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2019 WINNER OF THE AVBOB PRIZE FOR AFRIKAANS POETRY
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2021 THE LONG WAVE - SEMI-FINALIST IN SCREENCRAFT INTERNATIONAL CINEMATIC NOVEL COMPETITION
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PRAISE FOR STINKAFRIKANERS & ERDVARKFONTEIN
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"n Man wat kén van struktureer en van los drade vasvat en vernuftige speletjies met die leser speel."
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"A backbone of consistent and striking metaphors, mixed with a wry humour."
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"Oom Schalk Lourens op amfetamien."