Achmat Dangor
Achmat Dangor. (1948-2020) Novelist, playwright and poet.
Contents
Biography
Achmat was born in Johannesburg in 1948.
He was one of the founding members of the Congress of South African Writers and headed up various non-governmental organisations in South Africa, including the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and was the Southern Africa Representative for the Ford Foundation. He lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, with his wife, Audrey, and young son Zachary, and devoted his time to his writing.
He was banned from 1973-1978.
His poetry was published in the journals Wietie and Staffrider, anthologised in A Century of South African Poetry (1981) and published in the collection Bulldozer (1983). He also wrote the novel Bitter Fruit.
His membership of the cultural group Black Thoughts in 1973 led to his banning for six years.
He subsequently taught creative writing at City University in New York. On his return to South Africa he worked for Kagiso and the Independent Development Trust. In 2000 he was attached to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.
Achmat Dangor passed away on the 6 September 2020
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
His plays include Majiet.
Awards, etc
Winner of the Mofolo-Plomer Prize for the short story Waiting for Leila (1981).
His work has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2004.
In 2015 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South African Literary Awards (SALA).
Sources
NELM catalogue.
Beeld, 6 August 2000.
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