Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard was born in 1932 in Middelburg, in the Karoo desert region of South Africa. He has written more than thirty plays, four books and several screenplays. His plays include Blood Knot (1961), Boesman and Lena (1969), “Master Harold” . . . and the boys (1982), The Road to Mecca (1984) and My Children! My Africa! (1989). Many of his works were turned into films: Tsotsi, based on his 1980 novel, won the 2005 Academy Award for best foreign language film. His work spans the period of apartheid in South Africa (imposed in 1948), through the first democratic elections (April 27, 1994), when Nelson Mandela became president, and into present-day post-apartheid South Africa. One of the most performed playwrights in the world, and South Africa’s best-known playwright, at eighty-one, Fugard continues to direct and write plays. Although he still travels regularly, as of 2013, he regards his house in the Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda, South Africa, as his permanent home.