Adriaan Donker

Adriaan Donker (19**-2002) Publisher of South African writing and theory.

Generally referred to as Ad Donker (also found as AD Donker or Ad. Donker).

Biography

Born in Bilthoven, Holland, the Netherlands, he he trained as a publisher (inter alia with his father's publishing firm in Rotterdam[] and Collier Macmillan in London and New York City. In 1966 came to South Africa as a sales representative, going on to become a highly respected local publisher and charismatic personality, who founded the influential publishing firm Ad Donker Publishers to publish new writing in South Africa.

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

He became a close friend of and mentor to many writers working in English over the years, and helped establish a vibrant literature in English in the country. Selling the publishing house to Naspers in 199*, he moved to France, though he stayed on as consultant, and in fact returned for a while to work in Natal in the 1990s. (For books published by him, see also Ad Donker Publishers )

He died in 2002.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_Donker

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