Artist Database

Kirby van der Merwe was born in Paarl in the 1960s. He showed an early aptitude for art, taking it as a school subject and later enrolling at the Michaelis School of Fine Art for a year. After studying at Hewat College, he worked as a teacher, cabinetmaker and artist, working in painting, sculpture and ceramics. It was as a young artist in Onrus, through his friendship with writers Uys Krige (1910-1987) and Jan Rabie (1920-2001), that he began writing. In 1998 he received a merit award in the Bellville Art Association’s New Signatures competition for artists who had not yet held a solo exhibition, and in 2000 he won its sculpture category. Van der Merwe is equally known as an award-winning Afrikaans writer and journalist: his debut novel Klapperhaar Slaap Nie Stil Nie appeared in 1999, and his second, Eugene (2022), won the Eugène Marais Prize and two Rapport prizes in 2023. His journalism has earned a Mondi award and ATKV Media Feathers.