Marita van der Vyver
Marita van der Vyver (born 6 May 1958) is an Afrikaans author who has written several books for both adult and youth audiences. Since 1999, she has been settled in France with her husband and three children. Van der Vyver wrote a collection of humorous essays detailing life in the countryside of France, titled "Die hart van ons huis" in 2004, after which her first volume of short stories, "Bestemmings" was released, together with an English counterpart. Biography. She was born in Cape Town in 1958 and grew up in Bellville, Menlo Park and got her  early education from Hoërskool Nelspruit. In 1975, in a national Afrikaans poetry competition for matric pupils, she won a study bursary for four years at the university of her choice. She chose Stellenbosch University, where she participated in D.J. Opperman's poetry workshops and was awarded a BA degree, majoring in Afrikaans and French, in 1978. The following year, she acquired an honours degree in journalism. She completed a master's degree in journalism several years later. After returning to South Africa after a year of travelling in Europe, van der Vyver worked as a reporter for "Die Burger", as  a copywriter for "Leserskring" (a book club) and a feature writer for "Sarie". Works. She published three youth novels, "Van Jou Jas" (1982), "Tien vir 'n Vriend" (1987) and "Eenkantkind" (1991) before releasing her first novel for adults, "Griet skryf 'n Sprokie" in 1992, which won the ATKV, M-Net and Eugène Marais prize. It was translated into English, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Chinese and Hebrew. In 1994, "Dinge van 'n Kind", another youth novel, was published before she released her first book for young children, "Olinosters op die Dak" in 1997. Another adult novel, "Wegkomkans" was published  in 1999, followed by "Griet Kom Weer" in 2001. Her youth novel "Die Ongelooflike Avonture van Hanna Hoekom" won the Sanlam Prize for Youth Fiction in 2002 and was made into a film in 2010.