Mavis de Villiers

Mavis de Villiers (1919–2015) a teacher, an author and translator of children's books and an amateur actress and director.

Biography

Born in Cape Town on 2 November 1919 and grew up in Cape Town. She matriculated in 1936 at Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck[1], where she was also the head girl. After this, she continued her studies at the University of Stellenbosch from 1937, going on to obtain a B.A. degree in 1939, a Senior Teaching Diploma with distinction in 1940 and an LTCL in performing arts. During 1941 and 1942 she was a teacher at Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck, where she was particularly active in theatre circles, inter alia directing plays for amateur societies.

She was a lecturer at the Grahamstown Training College from 1943-4, and in 1945 married her high school sweetheart, David Pieter de Villiers.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Before her marriage she taught in Cape Town and became an active participant in amateur theatre, i.a. as a director for the Kaapstadse Afrikaanse Toneelvereniging (KAT) and as a judge for the regional festivals of FATSA and the Afrikaans Eisteddfod.

Among the she plays directed for KAT were Bly by jou Lees (1942), Bohaai oor Jolanthé (1942),

She later focused on writing and translating stories for children and young people. Among the translations were a number of works by Roald Dahl. Her translation of Dahl's The Big Friendly Giant (as Die Groot Sagmoedige Reus) received an award from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns in 1996.