Dalene Matthee

Who was Dalene Matthee?

Dalene Matthee was a South African author who wrote mainly in Afrikaans; her books were translated into fourteen other languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Icelandic.

A descendant of Sir Walter Scott, she was born Dalene Scott in Riversdale in the then Cape Province. After matriculating from the local high school in 1957, she studied music at a conservatorium in Oudtshoorn as well as at the Holy Cross Covent in Graaff-Reinet.

Her first book was a children's novel, Die twaalfuurstokkie. In 1982 a collection of short stories called Die Judasbok was also published.

Before gaining fame and wide acclaim for her first "forest novel", she also wrote stories for magazines as well as two popular novels - ’n Huis vir Nadia and Petronella van Aarde, burgemeester.

Kringe in ’n bos, a novel about the extermination of the elephants and the exploitation of the woodcutters of the Knysna forest, was an international success. Two other highly successful "forest novels" followed: Fiela se Kind in 1985 and Moerbeibos in 1987.