Diane Awerbuck (born 1 April 1974) is a South African novelist. Her novel, Gardening at Night, won the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book (Africa and the Caribbean), and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. In 2011, her collection of short stories, Cabin Fever, was published by Random House Struik. Her novel, Home Remedies, was published by Random House Struik in August 2012. She was shortlisted for the Caine Prize in 2014, and won the Short Story Day Africa competition the same year.
She taught at Rustenburg Girls' High School until 2002. Before this, she worked as a teacher of History at Cedar House; and of Narrative and Aesthetics at AFDA, the film school, both in Cape Town. Her non-fiction has appeared in the Mail & Guardian. She reviews fiction for the South African Sunday Times.
Her essays and short stories are published regularly and her work has been translated into German, Swedish, Mandarin and Russian. Her doctorate is in trauma narratives: The Spirit and the Letter: Trauma, Warblogs and the Public Sphere.
"Awerbuck" also writes as "Frank Owen", with co-writer Alex Latimer. Their cowboy-apocalypse novel South was published in 2016 (southvsnorth.com). The second volume North followed in 2018.
Works
Novels
Gardening at night, Secker & Warburg, 2003, Home Remedies, Umuzi / Random House Struik, 2012,
Short stories
Cabin Fever, Umuzi / Random House Struik, 2011,
As editor
Commissioning Editor of Anthology, The Ghost-Easter and Other Stories, Umuzi Cape Town, 2013, E-Pub 978-1-4152-0568-6
Interviews
Aerodrome Interview with Jennifer Malec, Jennifer Malec, (2013).
Other
Poem in Anthology, African Sun
Terra Incognita : African Speculative Fiction
Twenty in 20 : The Best Short Stories of South Africa's 20 Years of Democracy
Ons Klyntji:OK20 The Odyssey
The Gonjon Pin and Other Stories
Sweet Water
Mami Wata
The Sea
Three Poems in Anthology
Atlantis and Colposcopy
The Ghost-Eater and Other Stories
Ons Klyntji:Bewilderbeast
Interview with Jennifer Malec
Duiweltjie – The Root Cellar and Other Stories
Short Story for Short Story Day Africa 2013
Big Issue : Collector's Edition 2
Stick Man
Short story in Anthology
Short story in Anthology
Radio Broadcast on 'Tales to Terrify', USA
Short Story
Home Remedies
Über(w)unden : Art in Troubled Times
Short Story Day Africa Short Story excerpt
Cabin Fever
Heavenly shades of nights are falling Short story on literary magazine, 'Ons Klyntji' School photos Short story in Anthology, Elf 2009 Conference : African mythology: Mami Wata The Book Lounge, Cape Town 2008 Kommst du mit? Entanglement The way you look tonight Muddy Waters, Whisky Blues Greenland Der Junge, der Turen offnete En stereo i Soweto The boy who opened doors Gardening at Night The Dirty Knees of the Mother of GodShort Story, Commonwealth Writers Everybody Hurts Gardening at Night The Portable Pilgrim Online Column, 2003 – 2008 – www.extrange.com
Magazine Contributions
Leadership
Glamour
House and Garden
Design Indaba
Real simple
O Magazine
Ons Klyntji
References
External links
Interview with Diane Awerbuck , Electric Book Works