François Bloemhof

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

François Bloemhof

Born September 15, 1962 (1962-09-15) (age 45)
Paarl, South Africa
Pen name Leo Bekker
Occupation Author, Copywriter, Film reviewer
Nationality South African
Official website

François Bloemhof is a multiple prize-winning South African author, copywriter and film reviewer working primarily in the Afrikaans language.

Contents

[edit] Biography

François Bloemhof was born in the 1960s in Paarl. He made his debut on the South African literary scene in 1991 by winning the De Kat prize for his novel Die nag het net een oog. His next three books were all thrillers of some sort, before he published largely unclassifiable works like Storieboek, Hostis and Klipgooi.

Because younger readers liked his books, he began to also write specifically for them, with such success that he became sidetracked for a while. He soon had a host of ATKV-Veertjies (a competition in which young readers select the winning books themselves) as well as prizes for the teenage market, including for Slinger-slinger and Nie vir kinders nie (in the Tafelberg/Sanlam Youth Literature Competition) and Stad aan die einde van die wêreld (in the Maskew Miller Longman Literary Competition).

After a five-year layoff from the adult fiction market, Bloemhof returned to the genre in which he started with Spinnerak, featuring Alma van der Pool, the first ever female detective in Afrikaans fiction. She returned in Jagseisoen (2007).

With reference to a one-time comment by Alfred Hitchcock, Bloemhof has remarked: "Some people write slices of life. I've always preferred slices of cake."

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] For adults

[edit] For teenagers

[edit] For young readers (aged 9 to 12)

[edit] For young readers (aged 7 to 9)

[edit] For children (aged 6 to 7)

[edit] As editor

[edit] Under the pseudonym Leo Bekker

[edit] External links

Languages