Elsa Joubert

(1922- ) Highly regarded Afrikaans novelist, journalist and playwright.

Biography

Born Elsabé Antoinette Murray on 19 October 1922 in Paarl, where she grew up and matriculated from La Rochelle Girls' High 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. She married the journalist and writer Klaas Steytler in 1950 and they had two daughters and a son.

Her writing career

Novels, travelogues and short stories

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.

Plays

Her novel Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena was reworked for the stage in collaboration with Sandra Kotzé, and 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. It was one of the most influential plays of the time.

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*. ***

Awards

Ons Wag op die Kaptein (1963) won, amongst others, the Eugène Marais prize. Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (1978), was awarded the WA Hofmeyer, CNA and Louis Luyt prizes and was listed in 2002 as one of the 100 best books in Africa. In 1981, the British Royal Society of Literature awarded her the Winifred Holtby prize, and she also became a Fellow of the Society. In 1995 Die Reise van Isobelle (1995), was awarded the coveted Hertzog Prize. In 2001she received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch and in 2007 one from the University of Pretoria. In 2004 she received the award of the Order of Ikhamanga, and in 2013 she received an ACT Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sources

Winner Profiles - 2013 ACT Lifetime Achievement Awards. Issued by The Famous Idea [info@thefamousidea.co.za] on 2013/11/09.

Tucker, 1997.

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