Dan Sleigh Writer
Daniel (Dan) Sleigh (author) is a South African novelist who writes in Afrikaans. He was born on the farm Geelbeksfontein on the West Coast on 3 November 1938. He matriculated at Vredenburg High School and then joined the South African Navy. Until 1962, he studied at the Paarl Training College to become a Physical Education teacher, after which he taught in Namibia and Cape Town.In 1969 he completed his BA Degree in History and English Literature at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Sleigh then completed a MA Degree cum laude, followed by a Doctorate in History in 1987 at the University of Stellenbosch. Until his retirement in 1996, Sleigh worked at the Western Cape Department of Education.He made his literary debut in 1974 with the volume of poetry entitled Duif oor water. This was followed by historical works for young people, like Die buiteposte and Tussen twee vlae.In 2001 he won the Sanlam/Insig/Tafelberg Competition for his novel Eilande. This novel was later also awarded the WA Hofmeyr, RAU, M-Net and Helgaard Steyn Prizes.AwardsC Louis Leipoldt Prize (1971) – Duif oor water Winner of the Sanlam/Insig/Kwela Great Novel Competition (2001) – Eilande WA Hofmeyr Prize (2003) – Eilande RAU Prize for Creative Writing (2003) – Eilande M-Net Prize for Creative Writing in Afrikaans (2004) – Eilande Helgaard Steyn Prize (2004) – Eilande Medal from the Academy for Science and Culture (2007)List of published worksPoetry1971 Duif oor water, TafelbergProse: novels1972 Die nege-maande-mars, Tafelberg1973 ’n Man om te hardloop, Tafelberg1977 Sersant Barodien, Kaapse Korps, Tafelberg1978 ’n Kanon vir Barbier, Tafelberg1979 Vryburger Tas, Tafelberg2002 Eilande, Tafelberg2010 Afstande, Tafelberg2011 Wals met Matilda, TafelbergProse: youth novels1974 Tussen twee vlae, Tafelberg 1975 Onder die bittervaan, Tafelberg1976 Anselm en die jut, Van der WaltNon-fiction1978 Jan Kompanjie: die wêreld van die Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie, Tafelberg1979 Ruiters teen die Ryk, Nasou1988 The Huguenots (withAJ Grant and Ronald Mayo), Maskew Miller Longman1993 Die buiteposte, HAUM1996 The Forts of the Liesbeeck Frontier, Castle Military Museum1999 The Ride Against an Empire, Castle Military MuseumTranslationsEilande (2002) into English (Islands, 2004) and Dutch (Stemmen uit zee, 2004)Afstande (2010) into Dutch (De lange tocht, 2011)