John van Melle, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

John van Melle

South African writer

Date of Birth: 11-Feb-1887

Place of Birth: Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands

Date of Death: 08-Nov-1953

Profession: writer

Nationality: South Africa

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

John van Melle (11 February 1887 – 8 November 1953) was the pen name of a Dutch-born South African author.
His real name was Johannes van Melle. Van Melle was born in Goes.
He arrived in South Africa in 1906, and after a short sojourn in the Netherlands East Indies, settled in South Africa permanently in 1913.
He worked as a teacher in many rural schools and soon started to publish in both Dutch and the newly emerging Afrikaans language. Van Melle's best known work is the novel Bart Nel, a classic of Afrikaans literature.
It tells the tale of a farmer whose indomitable spirit allows him to survive the destruction and loss of his farm in wartime and being abandoned by his wife and family.