Jan F.E. Celliers

Jan F.E. Celliers. (1865-1940). Playwright and celebrated early Afrikaans poet and literary figure. Also wrote prose.

A member of the management of the AHTV and founder member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns. Not exceptionally successful as playwright, but like most of his time wrote to create and supply the new Afrikaans literature with a canon of serious works.

His plays include Liefde en Plig (“Love and Duty”- 1909), Martje (1911), Heldinne van die Oorlog (“Heroines of the War” – a commissioned work for the inauguration of the Women’s Monument in Bloemfontein in 1913, pub. 1924) and Reg bo Reg (“Right above [before] Right”- 1922).

In 1893 he also recited a dramatic piece called Jan Onverschillig ("Careless John") at a meeting of the Rederykerskamer Onze Taal, in Pretoria.

Sources

See Du Toit, 1988. [JH]

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