Band-aids for the Dead

This is a night for endings. A night for stuffing your copy of The Catcher in the Rye into your backpack and saying goodbye to your house where your dad spends every night drinking too much whiskey, reminiscing about his army days and beating the crap out of you and your brother. A night for checking the list of names of all the kids at school who have always irritated you and called you a freak and a weirdo. A night for paying tribute to all the cult movies and cult figures who gave you a voice when you were struggling to find your own. A night for prowling the dark street with their grave-cold pavements; meeting the clowns, phantoms, gargoyles and helpless ones who come crawling out of their hiding places at night. A night for discovering the dark thing inside you, getting to know him intimately, feeling him stretch his wings and ball his angry fists. This is the final night. Tomorrow I’m taking a gun to school.

Fanie Viljoen is one of the most loved and diverse writers in Afrikaans children’s and YA literature. He was awarded twice with the Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, as well as the M.E.R. Prize. He has also won numerous ATKV Children’s Book Awards. His young adult novels Betower and Afkop were both runners-up in LAPA’s competition for youth literature and he won the 2019 competition with Offers vir die vlieë.