Sello Duiker: sublime writer

Kabelo Sello Duiker would have turned 37 on April 13 this year (2011)had he not extinguished his own flame on January 19 2005.

At the time of his death Duiker had already published two acclaimed novels: He won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book: Africa Region for his debut novel, Thirteen Cents (David Philip, 2000), and the Herman Charles Bosman Prize for The Quiet Violence of Dreams (Kwela, 2001). His third novel, The Hidden Star (Umuzi, 2005) was published posthumously.

If there is anything we can learn from Duiker, it is that the literary landscape is a universal landscape and should not be defined along racial lines. Duiker was not a good black writer; he was just a great writer. His peers, literary giants and critics all acknowledged his contribution to our literature.

Duiker is to literature what Steve Biko is to politics, both having died at the tender age of 30 but leaving indelible footprints in our collective memory. Duiker’s writing distinguished itself with its courageous interrogation of issues relating to sexuality, identity, mental illness and Hiv and Aids. Thirteen Cents is a moving account of a 13-year old homeless boy, who in his struggle to survive on the streets of Cape Town, finds himself being sexually abused by adults. The Quiet Violence, on the other hand, centres on the tumultuous life of Tshepo, a Rhodes University student who is confined to a mental asylum in Cape Town.

Indeed a close reading of Duiker’s works reveals that the thread that runs through his writing is identity in its diverse forms. Azure, the teenage protagonist in Thirteen Cents loses his identity and becomes Blue; and Tshepo becomes Angelo-Tshepo in The Quiet Violence. The circumstances surrounding this change of identity have largely to do with the effects of racism that permeate the lives of these characters.

Six years after his demise, Duiker remains one of the best writers ever to come out of South Africa and arguably the best to have emerged since the turn of the century. It was surely because of these extraordinary achievements that the South African Literary Awards (Sala) saw fit to name an award after him.

Naming an award after Duiker is the greatest accolade bestowed on his memory, but more needs to be done to preserve and celebrate his legacy. Duiker should be a figure that aspirant writers strive to emulate.
- Siphiwo Mahala