Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Paton (1903-1988). Writer, teacher, reformatory principal, influential novelist and anti-apartheid activist. Best known for his seminal novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948).
Contents
Biography
He was born in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu Natal on 11 January 1903. He was formerly the principal of a boys' reformatory school in Johannesburg. He was a founder member of the Liberal Party and its leader between 1955 and its dissilusion in 1968. He died in Durban on 12 April 1988.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
His novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) became an internationally acclaimed work, and has been adapted to stage and screen a number of times under its original title, but also as a musical titled Lost in the Stars (by Maxwell Anderson with music by Kurt Weill, 1949).
He also collaborated on a number of other theartrical projects, including:
- the musical presentation Mkhumbane (with Todd Matshikiza, 1960)
- Sponono (with Krishna Shah, 1962).
- Man and Poet at the Inaugural Festival of the 1820 Settlers National Monument in 1974.
Sources
South African History Online [1].
Wikipedia [2].
Tucker, 1997.
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