Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer (20 November 1923 – 13 July 2014) was a South African writer, political activist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was known as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".[1] She was of Jewish descent.

Nadine Gordimer
Gordimer at the Göteborg Book Fair, 2010
Gordimer at the Göteborg Book Fair, 2010
Born(1923-11-20)20 November 1923
Springs, Transvaal,
Union of South Africa
Died13 July 2014(2014-07-13) (aged 90)
Johannesburg, South Africa
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
NationalitySouth African
PeriodApartheid-era South Africa
GenreNovels, plays
Notable worksThe Conservationist,
Burger's Daughter,
July's People
Notable awardsBooker Prize
1974
Nobel Prize in Literature
1991
SpouseGerald Gavron (1949–?; divorced; 1 child)
Reinhold Cassirer (1954–2001; his death; 1 child)

Gordimer's writing helped abolishing apartheid in South Africa.[2] She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned. Later on she was also active in HIV/AIDS causes.

Gordimer was one of 20 Nobel Laureates[3] who signed the "Stockholm memorandum" at the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability in Stockholm, Sweden on 18 May 2011.[4] Gordimer was born near Springs, a small town outside of Johannesburg on 20 November 1923.[5]

Gordimer died on 13 July 2014 at the age of 90.[6][7]

Further reading

  • Ronald Suresh Roberts, No Cold Kitchen: A Biography of Nadine Gordimer (2005)
  • No Cold Kitchen: A Biography of Nadine Gordimer by Ronald Suresh Roberts (STE)

References

  1. "A Writer's Life: Nadine Gordimer Archived 2008-04-18 at the Wayback Machine", 3 April 2006, Telegraph.
  2. Glen Frankel (2013-12-05). The Speech at Rivonia Trial that Changed History. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/when-mandelas-and-the-worlds-fate-changed-at-historic-rivonia-trial/2013/12/05/22033836-5e10-11e3-be07-006c776266ed_story.html. 
  3. Such as Peter Agre, Yuan T. Lee, Elinor Ostrom, Werner Arber, David Gross, James Mirrlees, Carlo Rubbia, Paul J. Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, Amartya Sen, Peter Doherty (scientist), Walter Kohn, Douglass North, John Sulston, Murray Gell-Mann, Harold Kroto, Douglas Osheroff, Muhammad Yunus
  4. "Stockholm Memorandum," Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Nobel-cause.de, 2011
  5. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991". Nobelprize. 7 October 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  6. "SA novelist Nadine Gordimer dies". News24.com. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  7. "Nadine Gordimer dies aged 90". The Guardian. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.

Other websites

  Media related to Nadine Gordimer at Wikimedia Commons