John van Melle

John van Melle was a Dutch-born South African author (born February 11 1887 in Goes?, the Netherlands; died November 8 1953 in Johannesburg?, South Africa). His real name was Johannes van Melle.

Van Melle arrived in South Africa in 1906, and after a short sojourn in the Dutch 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 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.

External link (in Afrikaans): http://www.leidenuniv.nl/host/mnl/mnl/levens/55-56/melle.htm