Mercy Kannemeyer

Mercy Kannemeyer is a South African playwright, screenwriter, director and academic/researcher. Her theatre work includes plays such as Boesak (2023), Woorde op akkoorde (2020), Die bul die wil nie (2020), Ons is nie almal so nie (2019), Ekstra large, asseblief? (2019/2020) and Prinz Betliegend (2018). She has also written for television, including Arendsvlei (2020–2022), and for Marie se laaste dag (2024) she received a kykNET Silwerskermfees award for best script (and best short film). Kannemeyer is involved in language and literary advocacy as chairperson of PEN Afrikaans, and her research interests include language policy, adaptation, transculturalism, translanguaging, and the ‘reclaiming and recalibration’ of Afrikaans. Mercy completed her masters degree in Drama and Theatre Studies at Stellenbosch University. Currently she is a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, where she is also doing a DPhil in Afrikaans.