| Athol Fugard |
| Lifetime Achievement Literary Award |
| Author, playwright and Director Athol Fugard was born in the remote village of Middleburg, and grew up in Port Elizabeth, the setting for most of his plays.He enrolled at the University of Cape Town but dropped out to work as a deck-hand on a ship, and later on moving to Johannesburg to work as a court clerk.As early as 1958, Fugard had become one of the country’s premier playwrights whose works, many which were banned, dealt with contemporary South Africa and the psychological and physical barriers confronted in trying to overcome Apartheid. Returning to Port Elizabeth in the early 1960s, he worked with a group of actors whose first performance was in the former snake pit of the zoo, hence the name The Serpent Players. His plays that include Master Harold and the Boys, Nongogo, Sizwe Bansi is Dead, The Island, Exits and Entrances are regularly re-produced and have won many awards. Some have been filmed. Fugard made his directorial debut in 1992 with the film version of The Road to Mecca. In 2006 the film Tsotsi, based on his novel of that name, won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. |
