WPeter Henry Abrahams Deras, commonly known as Peter Abrahams, was a South African-born novelist, journalist and political commentator who in 1956 settled in Jamaica, where he lived for the rest of his life. His death at the age of 97 is considered to have been murder.
WFrank Kojo Baffoe Jr. is a writer, poet, blogger, media consultant, producer, columnist, editor of Destiny Man, and is currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
WSinclair Beiles was a South African beat poet and editor for Maurice Girodias at the Olympia Press in Paris. He developed along with William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin the cut-up technique of writing poetry and literature.
WBantu Stephen Biko was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the late 1960s and 1970s. His ideas were articulated in a series of articles published under the pseudonym Frank Talk.
WAndré Philippus Brink, OIS was a South African novelist, essayist and poet. He wrote in both Afrikaans and English and taught English at the University of Cape Town.
WJohn Maxwell Coetzee is a South African-born novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in the English language. He has won the Booker Prize (twice), the CNA Prize (thrice), the Jerusalem Prize, the Prix Femina étranger, and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and holds a number of other awards and honorary doctorates.
WIzak David du Plessis, who published under the name I. D. du Plessis, was an Afrikaans-language writer. A successful writer in many genres, he is included among the Dertigers.
WKeith Gottschalk is a South African poet, known for his anti-apartheid poetry. He was born on the 14 March 1946 in Cape Town, where he still lives. He studied at the University of Cape Town 1964–70, where he was a tutor and junior lecturer to 1983.
WHarold (Harry) Kalmer was a South African novelist, essayist and playwright both in English and his home language Afrikaans.
WPeter Rudolf Gisela Horn was a Czech-born South African poet. He made his mark especially with his anti-Apartheid poetry. At the end of World War II he had to flee from his home and settled with his parents first in Bavaria and later in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he completed high school in 1954. He then emigrated with his parents to South Africa.
WTheodore Walter Jandrell aka Theo W. Jandrell was a South African teacher, principal of the Volksrust Primary School, educationist, inspector of schools, and prolific Afrikaans poet and folksong writer.
WArchibald Campbell Mzolisa "A.C." Jordan was a novelist, literary historian and intellectual pioneer of African studies in South Africa.
WKeorapetse William Kgositsile, also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960s and 1970s, he was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2006. Kgositsile lived in exile in the United States from 1962 until 1975, the peak of his literary career. He made an extensive study of African-American literature and culture, becoming particularly interested in jazz. During the 1970s he was a central figure among African-American poets, encouraging interest in Africa as well as the practice of poetry as a performance art; he was well known for his readings in New York City jazz clubs. Kgositsile was one of the first to bridge the gap between African poetry and Black poetry in the United States.
WPeter Alan Krummeck was a South African actor, theatre designer, director, writer, teacher, and activist, who won renown beyond South Africa in his one-man play Bonhoeffer. Pioneering the use of drama as a tool for reconciliation, he founded the African Community Theatre Service with Archbishop Desmond Tutu as patron.
WCornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, who published under his initials C.J. Langenhoven, was a South African poet who played a major role in the development of Afrikaans literature and cultural history. His poetry was one of the then young language's foremost promoters. He is best known to have written the words for the national anthem of South Africa, "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika", which was used during the apartheid era. He was affectionately known as Sagmoedige Neelsie or Kerneels. His childhood friend who helped him get into poetry was called Hans Conradius van Zyl.
WDonald Alasdair Calum Maclennan was a South African poet, critic, playwright and English professor.
WDaniël Francois Malherbe or D.F. Malherbe, was an Afrikaans-language novelist, poet, dramatist, and scholar.
WNelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
WAmitabh Mitra is an Indian-born South African physician, poet and artist, whose paintings depict dramatised stick figures.
WLewis Nkosi was a South African writer, who spent 30 years in exile as a consequence of restrictions placed on him and his writing by the Suppression of Communism Act and the Publications and Entertainment Act passed in the 1950s and 1960s. A multifaceted personality, he attempted every literary genre, literary criticism, poetry, drama, novels, short stories, essays, as well as journalism.
WArthur Kenneth Nortje was a South African poet.
WMatthew Francis Parris is a British political writer and broadcaster, formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was born in South Africa to British parents.
WAlan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.
WSydney Sipho Sepamla was a contemporary South African poet and novelist.
WMongane Wally Serote is a South African poet and writer. He became involved in political resistance to the apartheid government by joining the African National Congress (ANC) and in 1969 was arrested and detained for several months without trial. He subsequently spent years in exile, working in Botswana, and later London, England, for the ANC in their Arts and Culture Department, before eventually returning to South Africa in 1990. He was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2018.
WWillem Steenkamp is a South African author, journalist, historian, military analyst and citizen soldier. He has published a number of books and consults widely in military affairs.
WJacob Daniël du Toit, better known by his pen name Totius, was an Afrikaner poet.
WJohn van Melle was the pen name of a Dutch-born South African author. His real name was Johannes van Melle.
WChristopher (Chris) van Wyk was a South African children’s book author, novelist and poet. Van Wyk is famous for his poem "In Detention" on the suspicious deaths that befell South African political prisoners during Apartheid. He was also an editor at Ravan Press.