University of Pretoria, University of Stellenbosch (1991)
Occupation(s)
Writer and editor, poet, translator
Notable work
Bare and Breaking (2012), Navigate (2017), The Karen Book of Rules (2020)
Children
Oliver Keohane, Julia Keohane
Awards
Ingrid Jonker Prize
Sol Plaatje Translation Award
SALA
Karin Schimke (born 1968) is a South African writer. She has won awards for her poetry and literary translations. She works as a writer and editor.
Early life
Karin Schimke was born in1968 in Pretoria, South Africa to a German father and Afrikaans mother. She attended Clapham High School in Queenswood before going on to study languages at the University of Pretoria. She obtained a postgraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Stellenbosch and started her writing career in 1991, working as a bilingual news reporter at Die Eikestadnuus, an award-winning community newspaper in Stellenbosch. She started working full-time as a reporter for The Argus the following year. She spent two years working at The Star in Johannesburg but has spent most of her adult life in Cape Town.
Career
Writing
Schimke worked at some of South Africa's largest newspapers including The Argus, The Star and The Cape Times, as a political reporter, before going freelance in 2000.[1] She returned to The Cape Times for five years as the freelance books page editor from 2010 to 2015.
In 2006, Schimke co-authored the bestselling, Fabulously 40 and beyond: coming into your power and embracing change,[7] with Margie Orford and her latest book, The Karen Book of Rules (NB Publishers)[8] with comedy writer Karen Jeynes,[9] was released in September 2020.[10]
She has performed her own poetry at the Woordfees, Badilisha Poetry X-Change,[14] the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefee and poetry-on-the-road in Bremen,[15] Germany, in various podcasts and in radio interviews. Her work has been published in New Coin, New Contrast, Stanzas and Carapace[16] and has been featured in Paris Lit Up magazine, Atlanta Review, Mslexia, as well as a collection of poetry from South Africa translated into German, called Ankunft eines weiteren Tages,[17] published by Afrika Wunderhorn.[18]
Translations
In 2019, Schimke, together with Leon de Kock, won the 2019 Sol Plaatje Translation Award[19] for Flame in the Snow, the English translation of Vlam in die Sneeu, a collection of love letters written in the 1960s between novelist André Brink and poet Ingrid Jonker.[20] She regularly translates the work of the well-known Afrikaans thriller writer Irma Venter.
Editor
Schimke edited Open[21] (Oshun, Struik, 2008) a collection of women's erotic writing by some of South Africa's top female writers. She has edited the work of well-known South African authors like Martin Steyn,[22] Chanette Paul,[23] Dov Fedler[24] and Bronwyn Davids[25]
Writing coach
Schimke is a writing coach,[26] developmental editor, course designer and mentor.[citation needed]
Awards and honours
Sol Plaatje Translation Award, 2019 for Flame in the Snow, an English translation of Vlam in die Sneeu. With Leon De Kock.
South African Literary Awards, Translation Award, 2016 for Flame in the Snow: The Love Letters of Andre Brink & Ingrid Jonker.
