Ronelda S. Kamfer as writer in residence
14 January 2024
The Dutch Foundation for Literature is pleased to welcome Ronelda S. Kamfer to Amsterdam, where she will reside as a writer-in-residence for three months. Kamfer is one of today’s most significant South African writers.
Ronelda Sonnet Kamfer, poet and author, was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Her debut poetry collection, Noudat Slapende Honde (2008), won the Eugène Marais Prize. Her second book, Grond/Santekraam, won the Absa Kanna Award in 2012. Her third collection, Hammie, was published in 2016, followed by the fourth, Chinatown, in 2019. Her work has been translated into Dutch, Italian and French. She completed her master’s degree at Rhodes University in 2018 and was named Regional Poet Laureate in 2021 by the South African Literary Association.
In 2022, Kamfer published her debut novel Kompoun with Kwela publishers, receiving the HSS Award for fiction novels and the Jan Rabie Rapport Prize for early novel. The Dutch translation of Kompoun, translated by Alfred Schaffer, is scheduled for publication by Podium in 2024.
Currently, Kamfer is working on a fifth poetry collection and a collection of short stories. During her residency in the Netherlands, Kamfer will be participating in the Writers Unlimited Festival and other public literary events or readings. She will work on her new project as well, a novel focused on African folklore, following a group of midwives trying to hold on to their traditions in an ever-changing landscape.
