Literature & Ideas
Landmark
Bessie Head
1937 – 1986
One of Africa's great novelists, written out of her own country
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the South Africa Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
Born in a mental institution because her parents' relationship was a crime, barred from South Africa for life, she wrote in Botswana. The country that expelled her now teaches her in schools.
Bessie Head was born on 6 July 1937 inside the Fort Napier mental institution in Pietermaritzburg. Her mother came from a wealthy white family of Scottish descent and her father was a Black worker on the family estate; their relationship broke the Immorality Act, which criminalised sex across the colour line.
She left for Botswana and wrote there in exile, barred for life from returning. In 2003 the South African government awarded her the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold for literature, and her novels are now taught in South African schools.
She left for Botswana and wrote there in exile, barred for life from returning. In 2003 the South African government awarded her the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold for literature, and her novels are now taught in South African schools.
- South African History Online — List of South African artists in exile
- Trinidad Guardian — Bessie Head: from South African asylum to Botswana exile, claimed only in death
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