Tatamkulu Afrika

Tatamkhulu Afrika (December 7 1920-December 23 2002), was a South African poet and writer.

He was born in Egypt in 1920 and moved to South Africa as a young child. He fought in World War II and was a member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress.

His first novel, Broken Earth was published when he was seventeen, but it was over fifty years until his next publication, a collection of verse entitled Nine Lives. He won numerous literary awards, and in 1996 his works were translated into French.

He died shortly before his 82nd birthday, from injuries received when he was run over by a car two weeks before, just after the publication of his final novel, Bitter Eden.

Poetry

• Nine Lives (1991)
• Dark Rider (1993)
• Maqabane (1994)
• The Lemon Tree (1995)
• Turning Points (1996)
• Flesh and the Flame (1998)
• The Angel and Other Poems (1999)
• Mad Old Man Under the Morning Star (2001)

Novels

• Broken Earth (1940)
• The Innocents
• Tightrope
• Bitter Eden (2002)