Sipho Sepamla

Sydney Sipho Sepamla (born 1932 - January 9, 2007) was a contemporary South African poet and novelist. [ [http://www.dac.gov.za/speeches/minister/Speech22Jan07.html Message of Condolences on the passing of three prominent South African writers, Department of Arts and Culture, Government of South Africa] Accessed March 1, 2007]

Born in a township near Krugersdorp, Sipho Sepamla lived most of his life in Soweto. [ [http://people.africadatabase.org/en/profile/3483.html Sipho Sepamla] (Contemporary Africa Database) Accessed: January 15, 2007] He studied teaching at Pretoria Normal College and published his first volume of poetry, "Hurry Up to It!", in 1975. During this period he was active in the Black Consciousness movement and his 1977 book "The Soweto I Love", partly a response the the Soweto Riots, was banned by the Apartheid reigime. [ [http://home.luna.nl/~poetry/part/91/index.html Sydney Sipho Sepamla] Accessed: January 15, 2007] He was a founder of the Federated Union of Black Artists (now the Fuba Academy of Arts)and editor of the literary magazine "New Classic", and the theatre magazine "S'ketsh".

He published several volumes of poetry and novels. He received the Thomas Pringle Award (1977) and the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his writing. More recently in democratic South Africa he was a member of the governments' Arts and Culture Task Group.

Works

Poetry
*"Hurry Up to It!" (Donker, 1975)
*"The Soweto I Love". (1977)
*"Selected poems". (Donker, 1984)
*"From Gorée to Soweto". (1988)

Novels
*"The Root is One". (1979)
*"A Ride on the Whirlwind". (1981)

External links

* [http://southafrica.narod.ru/engels/sepamla.htm 2 poems]

References

Persondata
NAME=Sepamla, Sydney Sipho
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Contemporary South Afican poet and novelist
DATE OF BIRTH=1932
PLACE OF BIRTH=Krugersdorp, South Africa
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=