Darrel Bristow-Bovey was born in Durban, South Africa and educated at the University of Cape Town where he studied under J.M. Coetzee and Andre Brink. He currently divides his time between South Africa, the UK and a hillside on the Greek Peloponnese.
He is a screenwriter, represented by Abram Nalibotsky at the Gersh Agency, Beverly Hills. He has an original drama series – whose name he is not yet allowed to mention – in pre-development with an international production company.
Dark Hearts, a crime series in co-production with Quizzical Pictures and ZDFE (Germany) is in pre-production and will start to shoot in early 2023. His latest book, Finding Endurance, will be published in the UK, the USA and Europe in April 2023, and in South Africa in June 2023.
Feature films include: A Sunday Affair (Netflix, 2023), Inside Story (2010) for Discovery Channel, Nothing for Mahala (2013) and Score (2005) . Television credits include The Lab series 1 and 2, Hard Copy series 2 and 3, iNumberNumber, Hopeville, Rhythm City and Scandal, and the forthcoming The Secrets of Baba Segi’s Wives for Netflix. White Lies, starring Natalie Dormer, for Fremantle and Quizzical Pictures is currently in production.
He is a travel writer and a newspaper and magazine columnist and has written five books which have been translated into seven languages: I Moved Your Cheese (2001) and The Naked Bachelor (2002) were books of humour and But I Digress (2003), was a collection of his best columns between 1997 and 2003.
Finding Endurance (Icon Books) was published in the UK in April 2023 and will be released in South Africa and global territories in July 2023.
SuperZero (2004) won a Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature and the Percy Fitzpatrick Prize for South African Literature.
One Midlife Crisis and a Speedo (2013) was a humorous account of his attempt to swim across the Dardenelles in the wake of Lord Byron.
In 2017 his play Priest With Balloons won the Scribe Playwriting Competition, and will premiere in 2022.
In 2016 he co-wrote The Power Struggle, a one-man showcase for stand-up comic Nik Rabinowitz.
In 2006 he was a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Literature for his short story “A Joburg Story”.