Joan Hambidge
| Joan Hambidge | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
11 September 1956 Aliwal North, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Occupation | Academic, poet, writer, critic |
Joan Helene Hambidge (born 11 September 1956 in Aliwal North, South Africa) (the English surname notwithstanding), is an Afrikaans poet, literary theorist and academic. She is a prolific poet in Afrikaans, controversial as a public figure and critic and notorious for her out-of-the-closet style of writing. Her theoretic contributions deal mainly with Roland Barthes, deconstruction, postmodernism, psychoanalysis and metaphysics.
Hambidge studied at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Pretoria. She was admitted to a doctorate under André P. Brink at Rhodes University in 1985. A second doctorate followed (University of Cape Town,2001).
Although Hambidge says she discovered her muse when she was young, it was while she was a lecturer at the University of the North, Limpopo Province, South Africa, that she started to blossom as a writer.
She was awarded the Eugène Marais Prize for literature for her second volume of poetry, Bitterlemoene ("Bitter Oranges"), in 1986. This prize is one of the most coveted literary prizes in South Africa. She also won the Litera Prize as well as the Poetry Institute of Africa Prize for her poetry.
She is currently a professor at the School of Languages and Literature at the University of Cape Town.
Although she writes in Afrikaans, Hambidge has translated some of her poetry into English. Other translations have been done by Jo Nel, fellow poet and close friend Johann de Lange, and Charl JF Cilliers. Her work has been published in the Netherlands and the UK as well as in the US. Having published 26 volumes of poetry up to 2016 she is the most prolific poet in Afrikaans.
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