Elsa Joubert

JOUBERT, Elsa (1922- ) Highly regarded Afrikaans novelist, journalist and playwright. Born Elsabé Antoinette Murray on 19 October 1922 in Paarl, where she grew up and matriculated in 1939. She studied at the universities of Stellenbosch (B.A. in 1942 and S.E.D.) and Cape Town ( M.A. in Nederlands-Afrikaans, 1945). She was a teacher at the Hoër Meisieskool in Cradock and then worked as editor for Die Huisgenoot for two years (1946-1948). She then started writing full-time and travelled extensively in Africa, from the springs of the Nile in Uganda, through the Sudan, to Cairo, as well as to Mozambique, Mauritius, Réunion, Madagascar, and Angola. She also visited Indonesia. Besides writing on her travels, she produced a number of award-winning stories and novels, including Ons wag op die kaptein (1964), Bonga (1971), Die Laaste Sondag (1983) and Die reise van Isobelle (1995). But it was her documentary novel, Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (“The Wandering Years of Poppie Nongena”, 1979), which made her a prominent cultural-politcal figure, the book being translated into 13 languages and being selected as one of the 100 best novels out of Africa. Reworked for the stage in collaboration with Sandra Kotzé, it was first produced by PACOFS in 1979*?* to resounding success. A bilingual version was done by PACT in the Transvaal in 197*, and an English version was also performed at the Market Theatre under the title Poppie, directed by Lucille Gillwald for The Company in 1980. This was also taken to various other places in the world between 1982 and 1984. Later Joubert herself tried her hand at adapting a story of hers as a play, but with far less success. Die Laaste Sondag (The Last Sunday) was first produced by PACT in 198*. She married the journalist and writer Klaas Steytler in 1950 and they had two daughters and a son. ***(Tucker, 1997)

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