Breyten Breytenbach (; 16 September 193924 November 2024) was a South African writer, poet, and painter. He became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of the National Party–led South African Government. He was also known as a founding member of the Sestigers, a dissident literary movement, and was one of the most important poets in Afrikaans literature.
Early life and education
Breyten Breytenbach was born on 16 September 1939 in Bonnievale, South Africa.
For secondary education, he attended Hoërskool Hugenote, in Wellington, Western Cape. He later attended the University of Cape Town, as well as philology.
Activism and imprisonment
Breytenbach was a political dissenter against the ruling National Party and its white supremacist policy of apartheid in the early 1960s. He was a founding member of the Sestigers, a dissident literary movement of Afrikaner writers, He was not physically assaulted, but the prison officials abused him verbally, taunted him by pointing out the censorship of letters from his mother, and allowed him no privacy to mourn her death.
He served seven years as well as spending time in the United States and Europe.
He was a founding member and served as executive director of the Gorée Institute in Dakar, Senegal. This arose from an historic meeting in 1987 that became known as the Dakar Conference, between exiled leaders of the ANC and a group of liberal South Africans, mostly Afrikaners, from all walks of life. This gathering, held to define a strategy for effective struggle against the apartheid regime, was one of many that opened the way for a negotiated end to apartheid in South Africa. A good friend of Breytenbach, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, also attended.
While in Paris, Breytenbach wrote several works about his experience as an immigrant. His work was at the time controversial in South Africa. His book Skryt. Om 'n sinkende skip blou te verf (Scrit. Painting Blue a Sinking Ship), published in the Netherlands in 1972, was dedicated "to the people of South Africa, denied citizenship in their own country". The book was banned from sale in South Africa.
In 1984, he published The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist.
Art
thumb|Breytenbach with art works, 1995
Breytenbach was also known for his paintings, which have been exhibited internationally in Amsterdam,
Academia
In January 2000, Breytenbach started a three-year stint as visiting professor in the departments of English and Drama in the Graduate School of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. He was Global Distinguished Professor at NYU for over ten years. He practised Zen Buddhism.
Breytenbach died after a fall in Paris, France, on 24 November 2024, at the age of 85. His wife Yolande was by his side.
He was the younger brother of Jan Breytenbach (1932–2024), an SADF commander with political views strongly opposed to his, and Cloete Breytenbach (1933–2019), a widely published war correspondent. Cloete was notably one of the few people given permission by South African Prime Minister John Vorster to take photographs of Nelson Mandela at Robben Island following his imprisonment there in July 1964.
Breytenbach was informally considered by Afrikaans-speakers as their poet laureate and was one of the most important living poets in Afrikaans literature.
- Commandeur des Arts et Lettres (France's top cultural award) for Skryt
- 1986: Rapport Literature Prize, worth (a major prize)
- 1994: Alan Paton Award, for Return to Paradise
- 2007: W.A. Hofmeyr Prize, for "Die windvanger"
- 2010: , for Outre Voix/Voice Over
The Basque rock band Berri Txarrak dedicated the song "Breyten" to him on their 2005 album Jaio.Musika.Hil.
Works
Breytenbach's work includes numerous volumes of novels, poetry and essays, many of which are in Afrikaans. Many have been translated from Afrikaans to English, and many were originally published in English. Exhibitions of his paintings and prints have been shown in cities around the world.
His works have been translated into many languages, including English, Dutch, German, French, Arabic, Polish, Danish, Basque, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian.