Schalkie was diagnosed with lung cancer out of the blue on January 23, 2025. Schalkie's daughter, Michelene, was at her mother's deathbed when she breathed her last on Saturday morning, March 15, 2025, at 01:45. Friends and family celebrated the life of legendary Afrikaans novelist, Schalkie van Wyk (84), at a memorial service on Friday, March 21, 2025.

As passionate as she was about her writing and the characters in her books, she was equally passionate about the everyday people around her, says Michelene. “It was her mission to treat everyone she came into contact with as important in her eyes. We as family and friends, as well as the thousands of readers who have immersed themselves in her stories over the years, will miss her zest for life and words.”

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About 30 close friends and family attended Schalkie's memorial service. Michelene says it was done that way because her mother was someone who "never had any qualms about doing great things". "During her long career as a writer, she was always exceptionally prudent about giving media interviews," she recalls. "She always said the emphasis should be on her writing and her characters, and not on her as a person."

Michelene says her mother was an “exceptional woman who brought light and love to everyone she met.” “She enjoyed life to the fullest and shared her infectious laugh with everyone.” It is Michelene’s mission to keep her mother’s ‘voice’ alive by introducing new generations to the ingenious world that Schalkie Van Wyk so effortlessly created decades ago. “I know that she will still bring much joy to the world posthumously!”