| Intro | South African writer |
| Was | Writer |
| From | South Africa |
| Type | Literature |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 11 February 1887, Goes, Netherlands |
| Death |
8 November 1953, Johannesburg, South Africa (aged 66 years) |
| Star sign | Aquarius |
John van Melle (11 February 1887 – 8 November 1953) was the pen name of a Dutch-born South African author. His real name was Johannes van Melle.
Van Melle was born in Goes. He arrived in South Africa in 1906, and after a short sojourn in the Netherlands East Indies, settled in South Africa permanently in 1913. He worked as a teacher in many rural schools and soon started to publish in both Dutch and the newly emerging Afrikaans language.
Van Melle’s best known work is the novel Bart Nel, a classic of Afrikaans literature. It tells the tale of a farmer whose indomitable spirit allows him to survive the destruction and loss of his farm in wartime and being abandoned by his wife and family.