Martie Meiring
Martie Meiring (1934-2024) was an influential journalist, critic and cultural commentator.
Also known as Martie Retief, Martie Retief Meiring, or Martie Retief-Meiring
BEING WRITTEN
Contents
Biography
Born Martie Retief on 26 December 1934 in Johannesburg, she completed her school career in 1951 at Port Natal High School in Durban. In 1954 she obtained a BA at Stellenbosch University.
She started working as a journalist at the Eastern Cape newspaper Die Oosterlig in Port Elizabeth in 1955, then joined Die Vaderland in Johannesburg (1957 to 1959), NewsCheck (1960 to 1961),
In 1962 she left for London, where she did freelance work for the next two years before being appointed to the London office of National Newspapers and National Magazines in 1964.
She returned in 1967 to join Die Beeld in Johannesburg in 1967, before starting at the Huisgenoot after six months. In 1975 she moved once more to work for the newly founded daily Beeld.
From 1978 to 1981 she was editor of Bonanza, one of the first magazines specifically aimed at a black female market. Meiring was able to recruit several influential collaborators for the project, including Leah Tutu, wife of Desmond Tutu, Aggrey Klaaste, and Nthato Motlana.
After the closure of Bonanza, she became a freelancer for the Sunday Times, where she wrote, among other things, a political column. She has written for overseas publications and for National Magazines. At the beginning of the 1990s, she was an editorial member of Vrye Weekblad when it appeared as a so-called "alternative" Afrikaans newspaper, and where she could live out her "strong political convictions" ("Martie Retief Meiring" s.j.); she was co-editor of this magazine (Vrye Weekblad 1994:40). Her journalistic work did not lag behind. In between, she produced articles on art and music, and was involved in the founding of the magazine De Kat (CV 2017). In between, she wrote columns for, among others, Die Burger's "Van alle kante", the oldest column in Afrikaans media ("Commendatio vir die..." 2017), while she was intensely involved in the foundation of several festivals (CV 2017 ). At the Aardklop National Arts Festival she was a board member for a long time, and she was involved in the Suidoosterfees, as well as one-off festivals, such as the e'Bosch Heritage Festival, the Harvest Festival on Saldanha in 2000, and the Slave Festival on Stellenbosch in 2008 (CV 2017). As an arts and culture activist, she was a member of SOST, the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust, and a member of the advisory committee of SU's Word Festival. Retief Meiring was the skim writer of two autobiographies, those of Janie du Plessis (2010) and Elita de Klerk (2011). Upon their retirement, Retief Meiring and her husband, the cultural leader architect Hannes Meiring (deceased in 2010), settled in Stellenbosch, where she was involved in numerous projects as a community leader in this town. Among other things, she taught column writing in the honors course at SU's Department of Journalism for a number of years.
(CV 2017)
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
Sources
Lizette Rabe 2024. "Voorlopervroue in die Afrikaanse joernalistiek: Een eeu, drie baanbrekers, drie generasies", LitNet (Seminare en essays), 2024-06-26 [1]
https://maroelamedia.co.za/nuus/sa-nuus/jou-spore-le-mooi-hier-huldeblyke-vir-martie-retief-meiring/
https://www.netwerk24.com/netwerk24/nuus/aktueel/martie-retief-meiring-sterf-20241006
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