Tatamkhulu Afrika
Biographical info

Tatamkhulu Afrika was born as Mogamed Fu’ad Nasif in Sallum, Egypt on December 7 1920. His parents relocated to South Africa and both died when he was two years old. He was brought up as John Charlton by family friends. When the Second World War broke out, he joined the South African army. He was captured at the Battle of Tobruk and interned by the Germans. After the war he went to work in Namibia, where he was adopted by an Afrikaans family and was given the name Jozua Joubert. In 1964 he converted to the Muslim religion. He changed his name to Ismail Joubert, had himself reclassified on grounds of prinicple as non-white and went to live in District Six. He joined Umkhonto we Sizwe and was given the honorary name Tatamkhulu Afrika, which he retained as his official name until his death. He died on December 23 2002 at the age of 82 when he was run over by a car.

He completed his first novel, Broken Earth, at the age of 17. It was published in London in 1940. Tatamkhulu made his debut as a poet 51 years later with his collection Nine Lives. He received the CAN Debut Prize and the Olive Schreiner Prize for this collection of poetry. He published seven more collections of poetry in the following nine years. The anthology Nightrider – Selected Poems (2003) was compiled from his nine books of poetry. He published four books of prose as well as an autobiography, Mr Chameleon (2005).

Did you know?

• Tatamkhulu Afrika means “grandfather” or “old man of” Africa.
• He wrote Bitter Eden when he was held captive by the Germans during the Second World War. Two SS guards tore up the manuscript and the novel was only published in 2002 after he had to rewrite it.

Author bookshelf

Nightrider, Kwela Boeke/Snailpress (2003)

Awards

Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry (1991)
CNA Debut Prize (1991) – Nine Lives
Olive Schreiner Prize for Poetry (1992) – Nine Lives
Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry (1993)
Sanlam Literary Award for Poetry (1994)
Sanlam Literary Award for Poetry (2000) – Mad Old Man Under the Morning Star

List of titles

Poetry
1991 Nine Lives, Carrefour/Hippogriff
1993 Dark Rider, Snailpress/Mayibuye
1994 Maqabane, Mayibuye Books
1995 The Lemon Tree, Snailpress
1995 Flesh and the Flame, Silk Road
1996 Turning Points, Mayibuye
1999 The Angel and Other Poems, Carapace
2000 Mad Old Man Under the Morning Star, Snailpress
2003 Nightrider, Kwela Boeke/Snailpress

Prose
1940 Broken Earth, Hutchinson
1994 The Innocents, David Philip
1996 Tightrope, Mayibuye
2002 Bitter Eden, Arcadia

Autobiography
2005 Mr Chameleon, Jacana

Translation

French translations in 2000.