Deon Godfrey Meyer is a South African thriller novelist, writing in Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

. His books have been translated in 20 languages.http://www.deonmeyer.com/bio/bio.html He has also written numerous scripts for television and film.http://www.deonmeyer.com/afrikaans/tv/tv.html

Life and career

Meyer was born on the 4th of July 1958 in Paarl. He matriculated in 1976 at the Schoonspruit High School in Klerksdorp. He studied at Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education where he studied for a BA degree with English and History as majors. He later obtained an honours degree at the University of the Free State

University of the Free State

The University of the Free State is situated in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State, South Africa. The university also has a satellite campus in Qwaqwa that was, until 2003, part of the University of the North.-Academic Divisions:...

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In the 1980s he worked as a journalist at Die Volksblad, at the public relations office of the University of the Free State, and began work as advertising copy writer at Sanlam

Sanlam

Sanlam Limited is a financial services group in South Africa with its head office in Bellville in the Western Cape. Established in 1918, the Group demutualised in 1998 and Sanlam Limited then listed on the JSE Limited in Johannesburg and the Namibian Stock Exchange. The Sanlam Group conducts its...

. In 1991 he was appointed manager of Internal Communication and creative director of Sanlam's Publicity department. After Sanlam he started his own business specialising in the creation and management of virtual communities on the internet, and thereafter he was manager of special projects at BMW motorcycles. He currently writes full time. http://www.humanrousseau.com/Authors/1303

Novels

Deon Meyer's novel-writing career started when the Afrikaans magazine, Huisgenoot

Huisgenoot

Huisgenoot is a weekly Afrikaans-language general interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magazine YOU, its English language version. A third magazine, Drum, is directed at the black market...

, published a short story he had submitted.http://www.deonmeyer.com/bio/bio.html Since then he has published eight novels and two collections of short stories.

Film rights awarded for novels

• Feniks (Dead before dying) was the first novel for which film rights were awarded. The screenplay, written by South African writer, Johann Potgieter, was finalised in 2008.

• In August 2009 the film rights for 13 uur (Thirteen Hours), were awarded to British producers Malcolm Kohll and Robert Fig. Roger Spottiswoode has been appointed to direct the film.

• The film rights for Proteus (Heart of the Hunter) have also been granted to a South African company.

Awards and nominations

Meyer has also been nominated and has also won numerous awards.http://www.deonmeyer.com/awards/awards.html

• Devil's Peak was awarded the Martin Beck Award (“Den gyllene kofoten” or The golden crowbar) by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers in 2010.

• Le pic du diable, the French translation of Devil’s Peak wins the Readers’ Award from CritiquesLibres.com for Best Crime Novel or Thriller in 2010.

• 13 Hours wins the ATKV Prize for Best Suspense Fiction in 2009

• Weisser Schatten ('Blood Safari') receives the German Krimi Award (third place) in 2009.

• The Swedish edition of 'Dead at Daybreak' (Död i gryningen) was shortlisted for The Martin Beck Award for best translated crime fiction in 2008.

• Blood Safari wins the inaugural ATKV Prize for Best Suspense Fiction in 2008.

• Dead at Daybreak awarded best television script for the South African series by the ATKV in 2007

• Heart of the Hunter (German title: Das Herz des Jagers) wins a Deutsche Krimi Preis in 2006.

• Devil's Peak (Afrikaans Title: Infanta) wins ATKV Prose Prize for 2004.

• Dead at Daybreak (French title: Les Soldats de l'aube) wins the French Le prix Mystère de la critique 2004.

• Heart of the Hunter (Afrikaans title: Proteus) wins the ATKV Prose Prize for 2003.

• Dead Before Dying (French title: Jusqu'au Dernier) wins Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
  Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
  The Grand Prix de Littérature Policière is a French literary prize founded in 1948 by author and literary critic Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe. It is the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in France...
  
   2003.

• Dead at Daybreak (Afrikaans title: Orion) wins the ATKV Prose Prize for 2000.

• Dead at Daybreak (Afrikaans title: Orion) shortlisted for the M-Net Book Prize.

• Dead at Daybreak shortlisted for The Sunday Times
  The Sunday Times (South Africa)
  The Sunday Times is a popular South African Sunday newspaper. It has an audited circulation of 504,000 and a weekly readership of 3.2 million, making it the largest weekly newspaper in South Africa. Recently it was involved in exposing a corruption scandal involving the South African government's...
  
  Literary Prize.