Contents
Breyten Breytenbach
Writing dissident Afrikaans poetry and opposing apartheid.
Die ysterkoei moet sweet · Mouroir
- Born
- 16 September 1939
- Birthplace
- Bonnievale, South Africa
- Died
- 24 November 2024
More people
Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach was a South African poet, writer and painter whose life included exile and political imprisonment.
Early life
Western Cape
Born in Bonnievale and studied fine art and philology in Cape Town.
Career
- 1961
Sestigers
Helped establish the dissident literary movement.
- 1960s
Exile
Lived in Europe.
- 1975
Arrest
Was imprisoned after returning to South Africa on a false passport.
Selected work
Die ysterkoei moet sweet
A debut poetry collection that broke with established Afrikaans forms.
Mouroir
Experimental prose written during his imprisonment.
The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist
An account of prison and the apartheid state.
Beyond work
Marriage and apartheid
His marriage to Yolande, of Vietnamese ancestry, was prohibited by South Africa’s racial laws.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and career ↗Biographical data and references ↗Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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Photo: Fotopersbureau De Boer. CC0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.