Acclaimed South African author Dalene Matthee died at the age of 67 on Sunday, news reports said.
Matthee penned more than a dozen novels including Circles in a Forest –an instant bestseller when it was published in 1984 — and Fiela’s Child published in 1986 and later adapted into a film.
Many of her books, written in Afrikaans, and translated — in some cases into almost a dozen languages, are included as prescribed literature for students in South Africa and abroad.
She was admitted to hospital in Mossel Bay on Friday where she later died, her daughter told journalists.
Matthee was born in the Western Cape Province town of Riversdal in 1938. She studied music but later turned to writing children’s studies, short stories and novels that earned her a host of prizes.
Her most recent work was a novel titled Dreamforest. – Sapa-DPA