Hans du Plessis

Hans du Plessis was born in Pretoria on January 15 1945. He matriculated at Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool, Pretoria. He obtained a B.A. degree at the University of Pretoria and started teaching in 1966. In 1975 he obtained his doctorate at Unisa and received a senior bursary from the HSRC in 1976.  He furthered his studies at Harvard University in America. He subsequently lectured in grammatical studies at Unisa and RAU. In January 1981 he became professor of Afrikaans Grammar at Potchefstroom University and in 1990 he became Director of the ATKV School for Writing at the Northwest University. Hans du Plessis is a renowned researcher, academic, poet, playwright, columnist, novelist and writer of youth fiction. His creative debut was in 1978 with a book of poetry, Kleinwild. Gewete van glas was published in 1984. This was followed by five collections of poetry, three youth novels, a collection of columns he wrote, and six novels. The last three novels were historical novels with the Great Trek as backdrop, of which his latest novel, Inboekeling, appeared at Tafelberg in 2014. A novel, Grensgeval, was published in 1985 and Skuiwelinge in 1990. In 1991 he published a youth novel, Disse flippen stukkende wêreld dié, my ou, in 1995 the novel Bakgat, en wat dan van my, in 1996 Ditsem, Dawid!, and in 2001 a book of poetry Innie skylte vannie Jirre. In 2002 he published a book of Griqua poems about Song of Songs, Boegoe vannie liefde.