| K. Sello Duiker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 April 1974 Orlando, Soweto, South Africa |
| Died | 19 January 2005 (aged 30) |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | South African |
Kabelo "Sello" Duiker, (April 13, 1974 – January 19, 2005), was a South African novelist. His debut novel, Thirteen Cents, won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book written by an African writer. He also worked in advertising and as a screenwriter, at the time of his death he was working as an editor of drama for SABC1.
Duiker, the eldest of three brothers,[1] was born in Orlando, Soweto at the height of apartheid. Coming from a moderately wealthy family he was sent to a public school, where he was one of the very few black pupils. During his school-years the schools in South Africa were very much at the centre of the anti-apartheid movement. This personal experience of the social-struggles influenced Duiker greatly, his novels treated racial difference as largely immaterial, being basically cosmetic.
Duiker received a degree in journalism from Rhodes University, he also briefly studied at the University of Cape Town. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 2004 prior to committing suicide by hanging himself in Northcliff, Johannesburg, in January 2005. His death came a month after that of his contemporary Phaswane Mpe.[2][3]