Gordimer, Nadine, 1923-2014

Epithet: writer

South African novelist and short story writer.

Author.

South African author.

Nadine Gordimer, novelist and short story writer, was born in Springs, South Africa, in 1923. She spent her childhood in Transvaal, and began writing at an early age, publishing her first short story, Come Again Tomorrow, when she was 15. At 21, Gordimer briefly attended Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg where she was exposed to the social and political atmosphere of South Africa, which would become the focus of her works. Gordimer married twice -- first in 1949 to G. Gavron, with whom she has a daughter, and then to Reinhold Cassirer in 1954. They have a son.

Gordimer remained in Johannesburg and her works reflect the racially turbulent themes of South Africa's history. She has published ten novels. Her first was the semi-autobiographical The Lying Days (1953), which was followed by A World of Strangers (1958), Occasion for Loving (1963), The Late Bourgeois World (1966), A Guest of Honour (1971), The Conservationist (1974), Burger's Daughter (1979), July's People (1981), A Sport of Nature (1987), and My Son's Story (1990).

Gordimer's short stories have been published in various magazines such as the New Yorker, Harpers, and the Yale Review. They have also been published in several collections, including Face to Face (1949), Friday's Footprint (1960), and most recently, Jump (1991).

Nadine Gordimer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. She continues to live in and write about South Africa.

Gordimer was born in Springs, South Africa in 1923. At age 11 she began her writing career, her first writings appearing in the children's section of the Johannesburg Sunday Express. Since then she has written novels and countless short stories, articles, etc. which have been published in magazines and newspapers worldwide. Many of her works reflect the political and social dilemmas of living under apartheid in South Africa and consequently, several of her books have been banned in that country until very recently.

Among her numerous awards are the Booker Prize for Fiction (1974), Modern Language Association of America award (1982), and the Premio Malaparte prize (1987). In 1991 Gordimer's entire body of work was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature. She has been decorated Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) and has received honorary degrees from such institutions as Harvard and Yale Universities.

Apart from her many achievements in writing, Gordimer has been visiting professor and lecturer at several American universities. She is a founder and executive member of the Congress of South African Writers and has encouraged and supported new writers, especially young African authors and poets.