THE ESTATE OF Achmat Dangor
Agent: Isobel Dixon
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Biography: Achmat Dangor was born in Newclare, Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1948. He was an acclaimed writer and prominent activist, one of the founding members of the Congress of South African Writers. He was a tireless campaigner for social justice, and over the years he headed up various non-governmental organisations, including the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He was also the Southern Africa Representative for the Ford Foundation. In 2015 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South African Literary Awards (SALA).
He was the author of poetry collections, a play MAJIET, short story collections WAITING FOR LEILA and STRANGE PILGRIMAGES, and the novels THE Z TOWN TRILOGY, KAFKA’S CURSE, DIKELEDI and the widely acclaimed BITTER FRUIT.
KAFKA’S CURSE won the Herman Charles Bosman Prize. BITTER FRUIT was shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2004 and the IMPAC Literary Award 2003 and was voted one of the 100 best books of 2004 by Canada’s Globe & Mail. It is considered a classic of Southern African literature.
Achmat Dangor died in September 2020.