Corlia Fourie

(1944-) Journalist, playwright, novelist and writer. Cornelia (Corlia) Hilda Fourie was born on 11 December 1944 in Kuils River. Her father was the Hertzog Prize winner Mikro (CH Kühn). She matriculated at the Hendrik Verwoerd High School in Pretoria and in 1965 she obtained a BA degree at Stellenbosch University. She then worked as journalist at Die Burger and Sarie, and later also as freelance journalist at Beeld and Huisgenoot. She initially became known in the 1980s as playwright , writing three plays (Moeders en dogters, 1985, (winner of the Amstel Merit Prize in 1985); Leuens, 1985; and En die son skyn in Suid-Afrika, 1986). She then stopped writing for the theatre and turned to children's books, and later short stories and novels, winning numerous awards. In 2006 Moeders en dogters was chosen as the flagship production for the Suidooster Festival – 21 years after it first appeared. Her story, Die meisie wat soos ’n bottervoël sing (1991), was set to music by the composer Peter Klatzow and the work was performed with an orchestra and narrator as Tintinyane in Johannesburg and Cape Town.