Jaco Jacobs


Jaco Jacobs is a South African children's book author who writes in Afrikaans.

Biography

He was born in the South African town of Carnarvon, Northern Cape. He started writing at a young age and sold his first short stories to magazines while still in high school. To date, he has published more than 170 books for children, ranging from picture books to books for young adults, some of them under the pseudonyms Lize Roux and Tania Brink. In 2007, his young adult novel Suurlemoen! was chosen as an IBBY WHAT WHAT Book, and he has won the Alba Bouwer Prize twice, and 2019 for Moenie hierdie boek eet nie ), as well as the C.P. Hoogenhout Award for Wurms met tamatiesous en ander lawwe rympies, the Tienie Holloway Medal in 2018 for Grom!, and the Scheepers Prize for Youth Literature in 2019 for Dinge wat ek nie van skape geweet het nie. A film adaptation of Suurlemoen! was released in South African cinemas in 2014, and in 2017 his novel Oor 'n motorfiets, 'n zombiefliek en lang getalle wat deur elf gedeel kan word was adapted into a feature film, Nul is nie niks nie. His young adult novel 'n Goeie dag vir boomklim was chosen as one of the winners in the In Other Words competition, sponsored by the British Book Trust, and worldwide English rights were subsequently sold to Oneworld Publications in 2017. A Good Day for Climbing Trees was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and also published in Italian by Rizzoli Libri.
In addition to children's literature, he also writes magazine articles and columns, and he has translated more than 250 books from English and Dutch to Afrikaans. His translation of Chris Riddell's Ottoline and the Yellow Cat was awarded the Elsabe Steenberg Prize for children's book translation, as well as the SATI Prize for the translation of children's books.

Personal

He currently lives in Bloemfontein with his wife, Elize, his daughters, Mia and Emma, and 3 dogs.