Alba Bouwer

Infobox Writer


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name = Alba Bouwer
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birthdate = 16 March 1920
birthplace = Vredefort district, Free State, South Africa
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occupation = Journalist
nationality = South African
period =
genre = Children's literature
subject = girlhood; old age; rural life
movement =
spouse = Hubert Coetzee (d. 1969), Jan Hofmeyr
partner =
children =
relatives =
influences = M.E.R. (Marie Elisabeth Rothmann)
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website =

Albertha Magdalena Bouwer (born 1920) is a South African Afrikaans-writing journalist and author. She is best known for her series of children's stories about the experiences of a small girl called Alie growing up in the fictional location Rivierplaas in rural Free State. [Elwyn Jenkins, "The Growth of a National Children's Literature in English", "English Academy Review" 18:1 (2001), p. 148.] Late in life she published a novel for adults, "Die afdraand van die dag is kil" (The close of the day is cold, 1992), about two women in old age. [Reviewed by Fred J. Nichols in "World Literature Today" 68:1 (1994), p. 196.]

Life

Alba Bouwer was herself brought up on a farm in the Free State, and attended La Rochelle Girls' High School in Paarl, and Huguenot University College in Wellington. Most of her professional life was spent in literary and media circles in and around Cape Town.

Immediately after graduation Bouwer began work as a school teacher, but she left teaching to become editor of "Huishouding", a newly established women's magazine. From 1948 to 1950 she was a radio producer and presenter in the children's service of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, resigning in 1950 to take up an assistant editorship at the newly founded women's magazine "Sarie", where she remained for thirteen years.

Her first and best known work of fiction, "Stories van Rivierplaas", originally appeared in serialized form in "Sarie". Like many of her stories, these were semi-autobiographical. She continued to produce stories, translations and compilations into the late 1980s, but gave up her career in journalism upon marriage in 1963.

Bouwer's first husband was Hubert Coetzee (died 1969), a widower with two teenaged children from his previous marriage. Care for her step-children became Bouwer's first priority as wife and as widow. In 1975 she remarried with Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, a widower with five children from his previous marriage, and moved from the Boland to Riversdale.

Since 1994 she has lived in a retirement resort in Somerset West. [Biographical details from "Die blink uur van mooi dinge", pp. 6-74.]

Awards and honours

Alba Bouwer was awarded the Scheepers Prize for Children's Literature in 1959 and again in 1965, and the C.P. Hoogenhout Award in 1961, 1971 and 1983. [ [http://www.childlit.org.za/outabouwer.html Details on awards to Alba Bouwer] at childlit.org.za (in Afrikaans). Accessed 26 January 2008.]

Since 1989 the South African Academy of Science and Arts has presented a triennial Alba Bouwer Prize for children's literature, named in her honour. The prize has been awarded to the following recipients: Freda Linde (1989), Marietjie de Jongh and Barrie Hough (1992), Corlia Fourie (1995), Philip de Vos (1998), Martie Preller (2001), Leon de Villiers (2003), Jaco Jacobs (2006). [ [http://www.storiewerf.co.za/lyste/albabouwerprys.htm List of recipients of the Alba Bouwer Prize] at storiewerf.co.za (in Afrikaans). Accessed 26 January 2008.]

Publications

As author

*"Stories van Rivierplaas". Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel, 1955. Illustrated by Katrine Harries
*"Nuwe stories van Rivierplaas". Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel, 1956. Illustrated by Katrine Harries
*"Abdotjie: ses verhaaltjies oor 'n Maleiertjie van die ou Kaap". Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel, 1958. Illustrated by Katrine Harries
*"Die avonture van die eerste Afrikaanse vrou wat geneesheer geword het", a profile of Petronella van Heerden (1887-1975), the first Afrikaans woman to qualify as a doctor, published in parts in "Sarie Marais", April-July 1960. [Cited in Annemarié van Niekerk, "A Woman Who Made Her Mark in History but Remained Marginalised in the Documents of History: Petronella van Heerden", "Journal of Literary Studies" 14:3 (1998), pp. 348-374. Available [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02564719808530207 online] . Accessed 26 January 2008.]
*"Katrientjie van Keerweder". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1961.
*"Stories van Ruyswyck". Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel, 1963.
*"Stories van Bergplaas". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1963.
*"'n Hennetjie met kuikens". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1971.
*"Vlieg, swaeltjie, vlieg ver". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1983.
*"Die afdraand van die dag is kil". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1992.
*"Alba Bouwer-omnibus". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1995. With the original illustrations by Katrine Harries.:Reissued 2007 under the title "Rivierplaas: Stories van Rivierplaas, Nuwe Stories van Rivierplaas, Stories van Ruyswyck". ISBN 0624045315

As editor/compiler

*"Kom nader: bloemlesing uit die werk van M.E.R." Compiled by Alba Bouwer et al. Cape Town, 1965.
*M.E.R., "'n Kosbare erfenis: briewe 1916-1975". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1977. Collected letters of Marie Elisabeth Rothmann (1875-1975), compiled by Alba Bouwer, Anna Rothmann and Rykie van Reenen.

As translator

*Washington Irving, "Rip van Winkel". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1965. (From English). Illustrated by Katrine Harries
* [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Else_Hueck-Dehio Else Hueck-Dehio] , "Tippie se liefde". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1966. (From German)
*Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Die leerling-towenaar". 1968. (From German).
*A. A. Milne, "Winnie-die-Poeh". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1985. (From English):Reissued 2007. ISBN 0624045331.

Notes

Further reading

*Thomas van der Walt (ed.), "Die blink uur van mooi dinge: 'n huldiging van Alba Bouwer". Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1995.
*Lydia Pienaar, "Die kinderverhaal as literatuur. Met verwysing na werke deur Freda Linde en Alba Bouwer". [Durban, 1975] .
*Elwyn Jenkins, "Nudity, Clothing and Cultural Identity in Some South African Children's Books", "English in Africa" 30:1 (2003), pp. 87-102.
*Mike Prins, "Reza de Wet herlees Alba Bouwer", "Journal of Literary Studies/Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap" 12:4 (1996), pp. 487-501.
*Elsa Nolte, "M. E. R. en Alba Bouwer: Kanonisering en herkanonisering", "Tydskrif vir Letterkunde" 32:4 (1994), pp. 15-35.
*Elsabe Steenberg, "Die gebruik van herhaling in die werke van Alba Bouwer", "Tydskrif vir Letterkunde" 12:1 (1975), pp. 48-54.