K. Sello Duiker
| K. Sello Duiker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
13 April 1974 Orlando, Soweto, South Africa |
| Died | 19 January 2005 (aged 30) |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | South African |
Kabelo "Sello" Duiker, (13 April 1974 – 19 January 2005), was a South African novelist. His debut novel, Thirteen Cents, won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book, Africa Region. His second novel, The Quiet Violence of Dreams, won the 2002 Herman Charles Bosman Prize. He also worked in advertising and as a screenwriter.
Duiker, the eldest of three brothers, was born in Orlando West, Soweto and raised in Soweto at the height of apartheid by middle-class university-educated parents. Sent out of the township to attend a Catholic primary school from grade 5 and went first to La Salle College until grade 7 and his early high school years he was sent on to Redhill School, an elite institution where he was one of the very few black pupils. Duiker was schooled at the height of Apartheid; this influenced him greatly. He spent 2 years in England as a sixth form student at Huntington School, York before returning to South Africa to attend university where he studied copy-writing. Duiker worked for an advertising company before scriptwriting for the soapie Backstage. Duiker received a degree in journalism from Rhodes University, and also briefly studied at the University of Cape Town. Duiker used drugs such as LSD, Marijuana and others. After his expulsion from college, he was institutionalized at a psychiatric hospital. After release, he wrote Thirteen Cents in two months.
He suffered a nervous breakdown in 2004 prior to committing suicide by hanging himself in Northcliff, Johannesburg, in January 2005. It is speculated that Duiker had bipolar disorder or borderline schizophrenia. Duiker was working as a commissioning editor at the SABC at the time of his death. He had gone off his medication as he believed that it was suppressing his creativity. Duiker read the eulogy at the funeral of fellow young novelist Phaswane Mpe, also from suicide, a month before his own death.
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