The French edition of Michiel Heyns's THE CHILDREN'S DAY (JOURS D'ENFANCE), to be published by Philippe Rey in September, has been selected in the best book lists of two high-profile retailers. FNAC, France's largest bookstore chain, has included the novel in their list of the 30 best books, 'de la rentrée littéraire', chosen by 900 readers, 500 of which were booksellers.  The book has also been selected in supermarket chain Centres Leclerc's list of their 15 best foreign novels, to be displayed in 150 stores nationwide and in 1.75 million catalogues.

The French release of THE CHILDREN'S DAY follows its publication in South Africa (Jonathan Ball) and in the US (Tin House). Tiffany Lee-Youngren praised the novel in the San Diego Tribune as: 'Eminently readable…THE CHILDREN'S DAY is reminiscent in structure and tone to Vikas Swarup's Q&A (the inspiration behind SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE)…funny, surprising and disturbing.' In her introduction to the US edition, Costa Prize winning author A. L. Kennedy also praised the novel, writing: 'THE CHILDREN'S DAY is a deceptively delicate book carefully constructed, both subtly funny and melancholy… This is an important, lovely and thoughtful book.'

Michiel Heyns is Professor Emeritus in English at Stellenbosch University, and is the author of four novels as well as numerous academic works. He won the Herman Charles Bosman Prize for English Literature 2009 for BODIES POLITIC (Jonathan Ball, 2008) and his fiction has also been shortlisted for the SA Sunday Times Prize, the Commonwealth Prize and the University of Johannesburg Prize. His translation of Marlene van Niekerk's AGAAT (WAY OF THE WOMEN) won the Sol Plaatje Award for translation in 2008, and he was the recipient of the Thomas Pringle Award for journalism in 2007. He is the translator of Etienne van Heerden's THIRTY NIGHTS IN AMSTERDAM which will be published by Penguin South Africa next year, and his latest novel LOST GROUND will be published by Jonathan Ball in South Africa in early 2011.

More Praise for Michiel Heyns:

'Michiel Heyns, apart from being a successful academic, an acclaimed translator and a brilliant book reviewer, is one of South Africa's most fascinating writers - in short, a true man of letters.'
--Karina Magdalena Szczurek, The Sunday Independent
 
'Fascinating … THE CHILDREN'S DAY deserves a wide readership.'       
--Martin Rubin, The Wall Street Journal