James Whyle

(19**-) Actor, playwright and novelist**

Grew up in the Amatole Mountains of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Conscripted into the apartheid army in 1980, he was discharged on the grounds of having "an immature personality with tendencies towards neurosis".

Besides acting on stage and in film, he has published poetry, short stories, journalism, plays and novels.

He is married with three children.

Acting career

Film

Among his screen credits as an actor are the films Sarafina and Place of Weeping.

Writing

Stage

His adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Richard III called Hellhound was staged at Upstairs at the Market in 1992.

Radio

He writes radio plays for the BBC and is a member of the South African Screen Writers Union. One of his radio dramas, commissioned by the BBC, is A Man Called Rejoice which was published as Rejoice Burning in the UK in New South African Plays (Charles Fourie).

Prose

A short story, The Story was the winner of the 2011 Pen/Studzinski competition.

His novels include The Art of War (2012 - Winner of the M-Net Literary Award for debut novel, 2013) and Walk (2013).

Sources

Tucker, 1997

http://www.jacana.co.za/58-jacana/author-pages/1655-james-whyle

http://www.african-writing.com/whyle.htm

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