Antjie Krog (born 1952) is a South African writer and academic, best known for her Afrikaans poetry, her reporting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and her 1998 book Country of My Skull. In 2004, she joined the Arts faculty of the University of the Western Cape as Extraordinary Professor.

Early life and education

thumb| Krog in 2021

Krog was born in 1952 into an Afrikaner family of writers, and was the daughter of Afrikaans writer Dot Serfontein. She grew up on a farm in Kroonstad, Orange Free State.

Her literary career began in 1970 when, at the height of John Vorster's apartheid years, she wrote an anti-apartheid poem titled "My mooi land" ("My beautiful country") for her school magazine. The poem opened with the line, "Kyk, ek bou vir my 'n land / waar 'n vel niks tel nie" ("I'm building myself a country where skin colour doesn't matter"). It caused a stir in her conservative Afrikaans-speaking community and was reported on in the national media. Krog's first volume of poetry, Dogter van Jefta ("Daughter of Jephta"), was published shortly afterwards, while Krog was still just seventeen. "My mooi land" was later translated by Ronnie Kasrils and published in the January 1971 issue of Secheba, the official publication of the African National Congress (ANC) in London. ANC stalwart Ahmed Kathrada reportedly read the poem aloud after his release from Robben Island.

Career

1980s: Poet and activist

In the 1980s and early 1990s, living with her husband and young children in Kroonstad, Krog taught at a black high school and teachers' college. In Kroonstad, she was politically active – attending ANC meetings and protests – and became involved with the Congress of South African Writers, founded in 1987.

1990s: Journalist at the TRC

In 1993, Krog became editor of a now-defunct Afrikaans current-affairs journal, Die Suid-Afrikaan ("The South African"). She regularly translates from Dutch into Afrikaans as a writing exercise. She was writer-in-residence at the Dutch Foundation for Literature in early 2019, at Ghent University in 2020, and at Leiden University in autumn 2021.

Since 2004, Krog has been Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape and a research fellow at its Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research, and she regularly publishes literary criticism.</blockquote>

Prose and non-fiction

She is best known for her book Country of My Skull (1998), which is based on her experiences reporting on the TRC. It contains elements of both memoir and documentary, and was later dramatised in a 2004 film starring Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche. A Change of Tongue (2003), Krog's second work of prose in English, reflects on the progress made – both in South Africa and in Krog's own life – since the first democratic elections in 1994.

There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile (2009) is a work of academic non-fiction, co-written with Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele. The book follows the authors' attempts to make sense of the experience of a single woman, whose TRC testimony about the death of her son, given in Xhosa, sounded strange and incomprehensible to those listening to the English interpretation.

Krog's prose is influenced by the writing of J. M. Coetzee and Njabulo Ndebele, as well as by various translated works from indigenous African languages, which together she says "saved [her] life":<blockquote>The African writings gave me access to a world-conception that I have lived with all my life, but was not really aware of (its radical profoundness, depth and beauty), while Coetzee gave me the tools to do meaningful dissections from it. The play was directed by Marthinus Basson. At the 1999/2000 FNB Vita Regional Theatre Awards (Bloemfontein), the production was nominated for seven awards, including Best Production and Best Script of a New South African Play. In Krog's words, the play is about "the effort of two races to get into a dialogue".

Plagiarism allegation

In 2006, poet Stephen Watson, then head of the English department at the University of Cape Town, accused Krog of plagiarism. Writing in a literary review called New Contrast, he said that Country of My Skull used phrases from Ted Hughes's 1976 essay "Myth and Education". Watson also claimed that the concept for Die sterre sê 'tsau, a 2004 selection of indigenous poetry arranged and translated by Krog, had been ripped off from a similar collection he had published in 1991.

Works

Poetry

  • Dogter van Jefta (1970)
  • Januarie-suite (1972)
  • Beminde Antarktika (1974)
  • Mannin (1974)
  • Otters in Bronslaai (1981)
  • Jerusalemgangers (1985)
  • Lady Anne (1989; English translation: Lady Anne: A Chronicle in Verse, 2017)
  • Gedigte 1989–1995 (1995)
  • Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (2000)
  • Verweerskrif (2005; English translation: Body Bereft, 2006) English translation: Pillage, 2022)

Collected poems

  • Eerste gedigte (2004)
  • Digter wordende: 'n keur (2009), compiled by Krog
  • <nowiki/>'n Vry vrou (2020), compiled by Karen de Wet

Selected poems in English translation

  • Down to My Last Skin (2000)
  • Skinned (2013)

Poetry for children

  • Mankepank en ander monsters (1989)
  • Voëls van anderste vere (1992)
  • Fynbosfeetjies (2007; English translation: Fynbos Fairies), with Fiona Moodie

Poetry anthologies

  • Die trek die dye aan (1998), a collection of erotic Afrikaans poetry, co-edited with Johann de Lange
  • Met woorde soos met kerse (2002), a selection of poetry in indigenous South African languages, arranged and translated into Afrikaans by Krog
  • Die sterre sê 'tsau (2004), a selection of 35 San poems, arranged and translated into Afrikaans by Krog

Prose and non-fiction

  • Relaas van 'n moord (1995; English translation: Account of a Murder, 1997)
  • Country of my Skull (1998)
  • A Change of Tongue (2003)
  • Begging to be Black (2009)
  • There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile (2009), with Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele

Awards

Poetry

  • Eugene Marais Prize (1973), for Januarie-suite
  • Reina Prinsen Geerligs Prize (1976)
  • Rapport Prize (1987), for Jerusalemgangers
  • Hertzog Prize (1990), for Lady Anne
  • Hertzog Prize (2017), for Mede-wete

Journalism

  • Foreign Correspondents' Association Award (1996)
  • Pringle Medal for outstanding services to South African journalism (1997)

Both journalism awards were shared with the rest of the SABC's TRC reporting team.

Lifetime achievement

  • Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation Award (2000)
  • Central European University Open Society Prize (2005)
  • SALA Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)
  • Gouden Ganzenveer (2018)

Krog has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the Tavistock Clinic at the University of East London, the University of Stellenbosch, the University of the Free State, and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.