Meyersdal’s author publishes nine books
“John Heydenrych (67), who uses pen names AA Allen and John Tyrone, started writing as early as 11 years and his passion for writing has since developed throughout the years.”
John Heydenrych (67), who uses pen names AA Allen and John Tyrone, started writing as early as 11 years and his passion for writing has since developed throughout the years.
Heydenrych’s interesting childhood and experience of being a South African contributed greatly to his humorous style of writing.
At age 15, he won his first writing prize, the South African Navy League competition, which paved a way for his greater achievement. In 1997, he won a coveted Penguin South African short story competition award.
The family man, who has been married for 43 years, currently lives in Meyersdal and is a father of two sons. He is also a printer by trade.
To date, he has published nine books on Amazon and is currently working on a children’s book.
His first self-published book is titled A Fine Mess, which he said tells a story of him growing up in the early 1960s.
Self-published
The passionate author has written nine books which have been well received by book lovers.
The books written under his pen name, A.A Allen, include, A Fine Mess, Man of Honour, Pole, With Friends like These, All The Way Home and The Horn of a Dilemma.
While under his pen name, John Tyrone, he has written The Dawkins Delusion, The Death of Christianity, and A City on a Hill.
He told the RECORD that he has also written a historical novel which is closest to his heart.
The novel is titled Pole, and tells the story of his Polish father-in-law who was taken prisoner by the Soviets after they had attacked his village.
“In this book, the Soviets came into his village and slaughtered everyone, taking children off to a reeducation camp.
“Then the Germans broke their truce and bombed the camp and he was the only one who got away.
“He walked from Russia to the Black Sea where he was later rescued by a Turkish fisherman,” Heydenrych said.
Storytelling
Unlike many other authors, Heydenrych does not have a genre that he specialises in, however, his stories are always of human interest.
Upon reading his work, Heydenrych said he gets readers to eat out of his hand as he grabs their attention through his unique style of storytelling.
From his list of many books, he also excels at showing his creativity and humour in his fiction book titled All The Way Home, in which he tells the story of a graphic artist who was betrayed by his clients. The story was inspired by true events of his life.
Through his writing career he hopes to achieve financial independence.
To purchase any of his books, visit either Kindle or Amazon and enter the title of the book and the author’s name.
