Best-selling South African crime writer Deon Meyer, whose books are sold in 21 territories,  has won the Afrikaans written and oral literature category of the PanSALB awards for multilingualism. Andre Brink and Antjie Krog were runners-up in this category. At the awards ceremony in Johannesburg on Saturday,  former President Nelson Mandela was awarded the PanSALB Chairman's Lifetime Multilingualism award, which was accepted by his grand-daughter, Ndileka Mandela.

PanSALB Chairperson Professor Sihawukele Ngubane says Mandela has done more than most to develop, nurture and enhance the uniquely diverse quality of the South African population.  "He sacrificed the biggest part of his younger life to ensure that never again will any person be discriminated against because of the language that he or she speaks, the colour of his or her skin, his or her gender or sexual orientation. One of Madiba's many wise sayings states that if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart."

Deon Meyer's novels are best-sellers in France and Germany and published all over the world in many languages. He is the author of six gripping thrillers and a short story collection. THIRTEEN HOURS, Meyer's latest thriller will be published on 1 April 2010 by Hodder in the UK, and on 13 April 2010 by Grove Atlantic in the US and Random in Canada. Many of his books are also optioned for film, with the latest deal being with TF1 for BLOOD SAFARI.

Deon Meyer will be appearing at the 2010 London Book Fair where South Africa is the Country of Market Focus. For more information on his 2010 festivals and events around the world see here.

PanSALB acting Chief Executive Officer Chris Swepu says it is not incidental that the awards were made on the eve of International Mother Tongue Day - 21 February. "These awards are part of PanSALB's continued efforts to ensure that the diverse languages used in South Africa are developed and promoted to their fullest," he says. 

More information on PanSALB here.

Praise for Deon Meyer:

'In his native South Africa...Meyer is a bigger hitter than his namesake Twilight author...His books regularly slay the vampire romances in the charts, with their gritty realisations of the seamier side of South African life.'         

--Catherine Neilan, The Bookseller

'Deon Meyer is...one of the sharpest and most perceptive thriller writers around...Think of Meyer in the way that you might have regarded a bottle of Cape red a dozen years ago - dark, strong with an unusual but beguilingly moreish taste. If it can produce popular literature as good as this, the new South Africa has a lot going for it.'

--Peter Millar, The Times