Pieterse's first volume of poetry, Alruin (Mandrake) was published in 1989; the volume was awarded the Eugène Marais Prize and the Ingrid Jonker Prize. A volume of short stories, Omdat ons alles is (Because we are everything), was published in 1998 and in 2000 his second volume of poetry, Die burg van hertog Bloubaard (Duke Bluebeard’s Castle) was published. Bluebeard was awarded the Hertzog Prize in 2002, the highest accolade for Afrikaans writing. Between 1993 and 2003 Pieterse was Chief Editor of Tydskrif vir Letterkunde (Journal of Literature).

In 2007 his translation of Rilke’s Duineser Elegien into Afrikaans was published: Rainer Maria Rilke: Duino-elegieë. He was editor of John Boje’s translation of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales into Afrikaans (’n Keur uit die Pelgrimsverhale van Geoffrey Chaucer). He has been a guest of “Dichters in het Elzenveld” (2001), Poetry International (2001) and PEN (Literature Live Festival, Zagreb, 2006).

Pieterse is Professor and Head of the Unit for Creative Writing, University of Pretoria.