Year : 1983
Born in Durban, South Africa in 1983, Kurt George Ellis was raised in the communities of Newlands East and Sydenham. He attended Ferndale Primary School where his grade five English teacher advised his parents to purchase him a typewriter as he was destined to be a writer. Kurt then attended Bechet High School in Sydenham whom he credits with molding him as a person and as a writer. “Most of the teachers and my fellow pupils were incredibly supportive. I think I was extremely lucky with that.”
Year : 2001
Kurt Ellis matriculated from High School in 2000 and moved to Johannesburg in 2001 to study English Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand. In order to cover his living expenses and the cost of his studies, he began to work in sales as he studied. In 2003, he dropped out of University in order to focus on his career in sales. He has gone on to work in Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Aid, Telecommunications and Market Research Industries
Year : 2014
Kurt continued to write. He had completed the first draft of his novel By Any Means while still in high school. After sixteen years of writing, rejection and rewriting, the novel was published by Human and Rousseau to great acclaim.