Willem Anker was born in Citrusdal on February 3, 1979. He matriculated at Hugenote High School in Wellington in 1996. He has worked as barman, weaver, security guard and at a moving company for two days. At present he lectures in creative writing at the University of Stellenbosch. He obtained his D.Litt at the same university in 2007. <br/>In 2004 he wrote the script for the physical theatre piece Skroothonde, which won the Aartvark Prize for innovative work at Aardklop. In 2006 he co-wrote the text for Sielsiek, another physical theatre production performed at Aardklop, with Tertius Kapp. His first novel, Siegfried, was published by Kwela in 2007.