Johann de Lange

Who is Johann de Lange?

Johann de Lange is an Afrikaans poet, short story writer and critic. He is renowned for being one of the foremost gay writers in Afrikaans, his most controversial book being Nagsweet.

He debuted in 1982 with a collection of poetry titled Akwarelle van die dors for which he was awarded the Ingrid Jonker prize in 1983. This was followed by Waterwoestyn in 1984, Snel grys fantoom in 1986, Wordende naak in 1988 which was awarded the Rapport Prize for Poetry, Nagsweet in 1990, Vleiswond in 1993 and Wat sag is vergaan in 1995.

After a silence of 13 years he published a new volume of poetry Die algebra van nood in 2009, which was awarded the Hertzog Prize for Poetry in 2011. In 2010 a selection from his poetry was published under the title Judasoog.

In 1996 he published his first collection of short stories titled Vreemder as fiksie, followed by Tweede natuur in 2000 in which he explores the drug subculture.