Chris Barnard

Christian Johan Barnard (15 July 1939 – 28 December 2015), known as Chris Barnard, was a South African author and movie scriptwriter. He was known for writing Afrikaans novels, novellas, columns, youth novels, short stories, plays, radio dramas, film scripts and television dramas. Barnard was born in Mataffin in the Nelspruit district of South Africa on 15 July 1939, and matriculated at Hoërskool Nelspruit in 1957. He majored in Afrikaans-Nederlands and History of Art at the University of Pretoria.

In the 1960s he and several other authors were notable figures in the Afrikaans literary movement known as Die Sestigers ("The Sixty-ers"). These writers sought to use Afrikaans as a language to speak against the apartheid government, and also to bring into Afrikaans literature the influence of contemporary English and French trends.

During 1962 Barnard married his first wife, Anette, and together they produced three sons; Johan, Stephan and Tian. After divorcing his first wife in 1978, he married his second wife, Katinka Heyns. His fourth son, Simon, is born out of this marriage.

Barnard's second novel, Mahala, is considered an Afrikaans classic. He died on 28 December 2015 of a heart attack.