Rose Zwi (8 May 1928 – 22 October 2018) was a Mexican-born South African–Australian writer and anti-apartheid activist best known for her work about the immigrants in South Africa.
Biography edit
Zwi was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, to Jewish refugees from Lithuania who arrived in 1926 from Žagarė, and her family moved to South Africa when she was a young girl. In 1967 Zwi graduated from the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) with a BA (Hons) in English literature.[1][2] While living in South Africa, she was part of the white anti-apartheid organization Black Sash.[1]
Zwi lived briefly in Israel, but returned to South Africa until 1988 when she relocated to Australia. She became an Australian citizen in 1992 and lived in Sydney, New South Wales. She visited her parents' hometown, Žagarė, in 2006.[3]
Another Year in Africa edit
Another Year in Africa is set in a fictional town of Mayfontein, near Johannesburg in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The novel is a chronicle of exile, alienation and assimilation centering the Jewish community of Lithuanian descent.[4]
Awards edit
- 1982 – Winner of the Olive Schreiner Prize for Another Year in Africa – a prize for new and emerging writers[5]
- 1982 – Mofolo-Plomer Prize for an unpublished novel (The Umbrella Tree)[6]
- 1994 – Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Fiction Award for Safe Houses[7]
Works edit
| Year | Title | Imprint | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Another Year in Africa | Ravan Press | ISBN 0869753169 |
| 1981 | The Inverted Pyramid : a Novel | ISBN 086975212X | |
| 1984 | Exiles: A Novel | Donker | ISBN 0868520608 |
| 1990 | The Umbrella Tree | Penguin | ISBN 0140134107 |
| 1993 | Safe Houses | Spinifex | ISBN 1875559213 |
| 1997 | Last Walk in Naryshkin Park | ISBN 1875559728 | |
| 2002 | Speak the Truth, Laughing | ISBN 1876756217 | |
| 2010 | Once Were Slaves: A Journey Through the Circles of Hell | Sydney Jewish Museum | ISBN 9780980545869 |
Bibliography edit
- Claudia Bathsheba Braude, Contemporary Jewish Writing in South Africa: An Anthology, University of Nebraska, 2001
- Elizabeth le Roux, Publishing against Apartheid South Africa, A Case Study of Ravan Press, Cambridge University Press, 2020
References edit
- ^ a b c "Zwi, Rose". AustLit Agent. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
- ^ "RiP Rose Zwi". Books and Publishing. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- ^ Zhager. JewishGen
- ^ Angelfors, C. & Olaussen, M (eds) 2009, Africa Writing Europe: Opposition, Juxtaposition, Entanglement, Editions Rodopi B.V, The Netherlands.Viewed 29 August 2014 <https://www.google.co.za/#q=ROSE+ZWI&start=10>
- ^ "Olive Schreiner Prize Winners". The English Academy of Southern Africa. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
- ^ "Rose Zwi". austlit. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ^ "1994 Human Rights Medal and Awards". Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
- Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature
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