Ingrid de Kok was born in 1951 in Johannesburg, and she grew up in the gold mining town Stilfontein, in South Africa. At the age of 12, she, with her parents moved back to Johannesburg, where she first studied English and Political Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand and then
Henrietta Rose-Innes was born in Cape Town in 1971. After completing her studies in archaeology at the University of Cape Town, she studied biological anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In 1996, her short story »Burning Buildings« was awarded first prize in the Cosmopolitan/Vita Short Story Competition.
Hennie van Vuuren is a South African activist and writer. He is the founder and director of Open Secrets, an organization based in Cape Town that seeks accountability for economic crimes, abuse of power and human rights violations. He has also worked as Director of the Institute for Security Studies
The South African writer Gcina Mhlophe was born in 1958 in Natal near Durban. At the age of 21 she moved to Johannesburg where she worked as a housemaid, journalist and actress. She toured around Europe and North America acting in many different plays until she wrote her own in
© international literature festival berlin
Deborah Levy was born in South Africa in 1959. At the age of nine, she emigrated with her family to Britain after her father, a member of the African National Congress, had served a prison sentence for his political activity against the Apartheid regime. In 1981, Deborah Levy completed a
Charl-Pierre Naudé was born in 1958 in Kokstad, South Africa, and grew up in Durban and East London. Of Huguenot origin, early on during his youth, he was fascinated by the tales of African tribes that blended nature with magic. His interest in this culture also honed his awareness of
Breyten Breytenbach was born in 1939 as son of a Boer family in Bonnievale in the South African Cape Province and grew up in the small town of Wellington. He broke off his studies in the fine arts and literature which he started in Cape Town because the politics of
Antjie Krog was born in 1952 and grew up on a farm in the Orange Free State in South Africa. She studied Afrikaans, philosophy and English at the University of the Orange Free State, gained a Master’s from the University of Pretoria and a teaching diploma from the University of
“I am an African with Asian and Dutch blood in me, I don’t know what race I am, and I don’t care”, with this description of himself, Achmat Dangor also describes the central themes of his literary work: heritage and a sense of belonging. He was born into a Muslim
