Antjie Krog

Antjie Krog (1952– ) is a prominent South African poet, academic and writer.

Early life

Born into an Afrikaner family of writers on 23 October 1952 in Kroonstad, South Africa she grew up on a farm, attending primary and secondary school in the area. In 1970, at the height of John Vorster's apartheid years, she would pen these brave and idealistic words for her school magazine, scandalising her conservative Afrikaans-speaking community and bringing the attention of the national media to her parents' doorstep [http://www.boekwurm.co.za/blad_skryf_klmno/krog_antjie.html] :

: Gee vir my 'n land waar swart en wit hand aan hand
vrede en liefde kan bring in my mooi land.

: "Give me a land where black and white hand in hand"
"Can bring peace and love to my beautiful land".

In 1973 she earned a BA (Hons) degree in English from the University of the Orange Free State, and an MA in Afrikaans from the University of Pretoria in 1976 [http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue5/bioantije.html] . With a teaching diploma from the University of South Africa (UNISA) she would lecture at a segregated teacher’s training college for black South Africans.

Poet

Described by her contemporary Joan Hambidge, as the Pablo Neruda of Afrikaans, Krog would publish her first book of verse, "Dogter van Jefta" (Daughter of Jephta) at the age of seventeen. Within the next two years she published a second collection titled: "Januarie-suite" (January Suite). Since then she has published nine further volumes, one in English. Much of her poetry deals with love, apartheid, the role of women, and the politics of gender. Her work has been translated into English, Dutch and several other languages.

Journalist

Later, Krog would edit the now-defunct, independent Afrikaans journal "Die Suid-Afrikaan", co-founded by Hermann Giliomee in 1984. On the strength of her work there, she was invited to join the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) by Pippa Green (erstwhile head of radio news). For two years, reporting as Antjie Samuel, she contributed to the radio programme "AM Live" with items on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Of the commission she said:

"If its interest is linked only to amnesty and compensation, then it will have chosen not truth, but justice. If it sees truth as the widest possible compilation of people's perceptions, stories, myths and experiences, it will have chosen to restore memory and foster a new humanity, and perhaps that is justice in its deepest sense." [http://www.media-diversity.org/articles_publications/Post-Conflict%20Reconstruction.htm] .

When the TRC hearings were completed in 1997, Krog took up the post of Parliamentary Editor at SABC.

Prose writer

She is best known for her book "Country of My Skull", which chronicled the TRC. With Krog's reluctant permission, the book was later dramatized for the screen by Ann Peacock resulting in a film of the same name. Released in the United States as "In My Country", it stars Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche [http://2004.pardo.ch/evento/news/pardodetail.jsp?id=91495] . While the film was thought to have its "heart and politics in the right place" it was otherwise panned by the Washington Post as a "formula romance", in which Binoche fails at the Afrikaans accent and Jackson's character, "Langston Whitfield", lacks credibility as a Post reporter [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15797-2005Mar31.html] .

"A Change of Tongue", her second work of prose in English, recounts ten years of evolution after South Africa's first democratic elections. A post-modern blend of fiction, poetry, and reportage it explores the surprising and predictable changes that South Africans have made since abandoning apartheid. At times humorous, she weaves strands of autobiography with the stories of others to document struggles for identity, truth and salvation. The title of the book has political and private meanings: the diminishing role of Afrikaans in public discourse is reflected in her own flight into English as the vernacular of her work.

Private life

She is married to architect John Samuel and has four children: Andries, Susan, Philip, and Willem; Three grandchildren: Anouk, Antjie and Jana. In 2004 she joined the Arts faculty of the University of the Western Cape [http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/news/antjiekrog.htm] .

Criticism

In February 2006, the poet Stephen Watson, writing in New Contrast, accused her of plagiarism. He claimed that she "lifted the entire conception of " [The Stars say 'Tsau'] " from [his] "Return of the Moon", and that she also plagiarised from the work of Ted Hughes. Krog strongly denied the claims. [http://www.litnet.co.za/seminarroom/krog_krog.asp]

Literary works

Poetry

* "Dogter van Jefta" (Daughter of Jephta) (1970)
* "Januarie-suite" (January Suite) (1972)
* "Beminde Antarktika" (Beloved Antarctica) (1974)
* "Mannin" (Difficult to translate: the name of Eve given in Biblical terms if Adam being "man", Eve was called "wo-man") (1974)
* "Otters in Bronslaai" (Otters in Bronze Salad) (1981)
* "Jerusalemgangers" (Jerusalem-goers) (1985)
* "Lady Anne" (1989)
* "Gedigte 1989–1995" (Poems) (1995)
* "Kleur kom nooit alleen nie" (Colour never comes alone) (2000)
* "Down to my last skin" (2000)
* "Met woorde soos met kerse" (With words so with candles) (2002)

Poetry for children

* "Mankepank en ander Monsters" (Mankepank and other monsters) (1989)
* "Voëls van anderster vere" (Birds of different feathers) (1992)
* "Fynbosfeetjies" by Antjie Krog & Fiona Moodie (Fynbos Fairies) (2007)

Prose

* "Relaas van 'n Moord" (Relaying of a Murder) (1995)
* "Country of my Skull" (1998)
* "A Change of Tongue" (2003), translated into Afrikaans in 2005 as "'n Ander Tongval"

Drama

* "Waarom is dié wat voor toyi-toyi altyd vet?" (Why are those who toyi-toyi in front always fat?) (1999)

Translation

* "Domein van Glas", from the Dutch "Een Mond vol Glas" by Henk van Woerden ("Domain of Glass" from the Dutch "Mouthful of Glass")
* "Lang Pad na Vryheid", from the English "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
* "Mamma Medea", from the Dutch play "Mamma Medea" by Tom Lanoye

Awards

* Eugene Marais Prize (1973)
* Reina Prinsen-Geerligs Prijs (1976)
* Rapport Prize (1987)
* Hertzog Prize (1990)
* "Foreign Correspondent" Award (1996)
* Pringle Award (1996)
* Alan Paton Award (1996)
* Booksellers Award (1999)
* Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation Award [http://www.humanite.presse.fr/popup_print.php3?id_article=218848] (2000)
* RAU-Prys vir Skeppende Skryfwerk (2001)
* South African Translators' Institute Award for Outstanding Translation [http://www.translators.org.za/indexes/english/award-story2003.htm] (2003)

See also

* Ruth First
* Nadine Gordimer
* Gwen Lister
* Winnie Mandela
* Dulcie September
* Albertina Sisulu
* Helen Suzman