THE ESTATE OF Achmat Dangor

Agent: Isobel Dixon
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth

Biography:

Achmat Dangor was born in Newclare, Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1948. He was an acclaimed writer and prominent activist, one of the founding members of the Congress of South African Writers. He was a tireless campaigner for social justice, and over the years he headed up various non-governmental organisations, including the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He was also the Southern Africa Representative for the Ford Foundation. In 2015 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South African Literary Awards (SALA).

He was the author of poetry collections, a play MAJIET, short story collections WAITING FOR LEILA and STRANGE PILGRIMAGES, and the novels THE Z TOWN TRILOGY, KAFKA’S CURSE, DIKELEDI and the widely acclaimed BITTER FRUIT.

KAFKA’S CURSE won the Herman Charles Bosman Prize. BITTER FRUIT was shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2004 and the IMPAC Literary Award 2003 and was voted one of the 100 best books of 2004 by Canada’s Globe & Mail. It is considered a classic of Southern African literature.

Achmat Dangor died in September 2020.

DIKELEDI
Pan Mac SA, Sept 2017
Literary fic, 336 pages
When a family tragedy drives a wedge between father and son, Patrick Tau turns his back on his home in rural Mahikeng, determined to break with his past and never to speak of the secrets he holds. He builds a life in the city of gold with Julia and their two children in the township of Newclare. As apartheid’s cruel laws take hold and the threat of forced removals becomes a reality, Patrick makes a decision that will change the course of their lives and impact on each family member in wholly unanticipated ways.

BITTER FRUIT Literary fiction, 256 pages Atlantic Books - September 30, 2004 Shortlisted for Booker Prize 2004 and the IMPAC Literary Award 2003; Voted one of the 100 best books of 2004 by Canada’s Globe & Mail When Silas Ali last encountered the Lieutenant, he was locked in a police van as the Lieutenant raped his wife. When Silas sees him again, after apartheid’s crumbling, crimes from the past erupt into the present. — BITTER FRUIT

Literary fiction, 256 pages
Atlantic Books - September 30, 2004

Shortlisted for Booker Prize 2004 and the IMPAC Literary Award 2003; Voted one of the 100 best books of 2004 by *Canada’s Globe & Mail*

When Silas Ali last encountered the Lieutenant, he was locked in a police van as the Lieutenant raped his wife. When Silas sees him again, after apartheid’s crumbling, crimes from the past erupt into the present.