A local award-winning author was awarded the 2020 KykNET-Rapport book prize in the nonfiction category, for his biography on a South African army general.
Carel van der Merwe won this award for his biography on army General Ben Viljoen, Kansvatter – Die rustelose lewe van Ben Viljoen, on 19 September.
Van der Merwe won the same prize for his previous book Donker Stroom: Eugène Marais en die Anglo-Boeroorlog, in 2016.
It was in doing research for Donker Stroom that Van der Merwe learnt about the army general, Van der Merwe said.
“I became aware of the initial friendship and later enmity between Ben Viljoen and famous Afrikaans poet, writer and naturalist Eugène Marais, in the former Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) in the decade prior to the outbreak of the South African War in 1899,” Van der Merwe said.
The winners of the KykNET-Rapport book prizes were announced on YouTube on KykNET.
The book was inspired by several stimuli, including Sonja Loots’ acclaimed novel Sirkusboere, said Van der Merwe.
“Viljoen is one of the principal characters in Sirkusboere, and Loots described him as charming, flamboyant, impulsive, promiscuous and restless. The seeds for further research were then planted: Who was the real Ben Viljoen, and how did it come to be that an Afrikaner from that era got involved in so many diverse events, in so many different countries?” he said.
According to Hettie Scholts, the prize convenor at KykNET-Rapport Book Prizes, Van der Merwe used the 2016 prize money to do extensive historical research, both locally and internationally, for this book.
The research on which Kansvatter is based was used for his PhD dissertation at Stellenbosch University as well, Van der Merwe said.
His editor at Protea Book House, Kristèl de Weerd, said that she recommends the book both to readers interested in history and those who are not.
“The genre of this book is history, yes, but the life of general Ben Viljoen lends itself to a novel filled with adventure, romance, intrigue and surprise in almost every chapter,” De Weerd said.
According to Van der Merwe, he is already thinking about his next book.
“[It is] only in my head at this stage. I hope I will be able to make a start on my next book – a novel this time – in 2021,” said Van der Merwe.