Zirk van den Berg - Speakeasy Writers Fest

Zirk van den Berg is an Auckland-based novelist writing in Afrikaans and English.

He has been active in Afrikaans since 1989, with seven books hitting the shelves since 2013 – two of them published in both Afrikaans and English simultaneously – and an eighth due for release in 2023.

Ek wens, ek wens, the Afrikaans version of I Wish, I Wish (Cuba Press NZ, 2020) won the prestigious WA Hofmeyr Prize for Literature and the kykNET-Rapport Prize for Literature and the kykNET-Rapport Prize for best filmable book in 2020.

The book has since been turned into an award-winning play in South Africa. The English version was shortlisted for the 2021 NZ Booklovers Award for Fiction.

Van den Berg moved to New Zealand in 1998 and lives in Auckland with his wife and two children. He makes his living as a freelance writer, mainly of tender documents.