Elsabé Antoinette Murray Joubert OIS (19 October 1922 – 14 June 2020) was a Sestigers

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

-language writer. She rose to prominence with her novel '' Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena'' (The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena), which was translated into 13

languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

, as well as staged as a drama and filmed as '' Poppie Nongena''.

Early life and career

Elsa Joubert was born and raised in the Cape settlement of Paarl and matriculated from the all-girls school

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

in Paarl in 1939. She then studied at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest ext ...

from which she graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in 1942 and an SED (Secondary Education Diploma) in 1943. She continued her studies at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

which she left with a

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

degree in Dutch-Afrikaans literature in 1945. After graduating, Joubert taught at the Hoër Meisieskool, an all-girls high school in Cradock, then worked as the editor of the women's pages of '' Huisgenoot'', a well-known Afrikaans family magazine, from 1946 to 1948. She then started writing full-time and travelled extensively in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, from the springs of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

, through the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, as well as to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, and

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. She also visited

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. In 1950, Joubert married

Klaas Steytler Klaas is a Dutch male given and surname. It is the Dutch short form of Nicholas, a Greek name ultimately meaning ''victory of the people''. A traditionally common name in the Netherlands, its popularity declined some 20-fold since 1950.

, a journalist and later publisher and author, who died in 1998. She had three children, two daughters and one son, and lived in

Oranjezicht Oranjezicht (Dutch: ''orange view'') is a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa, built on the site of the old Oranjezicht farm, which used to stretch at least as far as the Mount Nelson Hotel and supplied the Castle of Good Hope with fresh produce. ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. She died in Cape Town on 14 June 2020 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-related causes during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. In May 2020, during the pandemic, she wrote an open letter to relax restrictions and allow home care residents to see family. “We are in the last months and weeks of our lives,” she wrote, “and we who live in homes or institutions, however wonderful, are totally cut off from our family members.”

Awards

* Fellow of the British

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from Stellenbosch University (2001) *

Eugène Marais Prize The Eugène Marais Prize is a South African literary prize awarded by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns for a first or early publication in Afrikaans. In 1971 it was renamed after the Afrikaans poet and researcher Eugène Marais. ...

for ''Ons wag op die kaptein'' (1964) * CNA Prize for ''Bonga'' (1971) *

W.A. Hofmeyr Prize The Media24 Books Literary Awards (known before 2011 as the Via Afrika Awards, and before that as the Nasboek Literary Awards) are a group of five South African literary prizes awarded annually by Media24, the print-media arm of the South African m ...

, for ''Poppy Nongena'' (1979) * W.A. Hofmeyr Prize and

Hertzog Prize The Hertzog Prize (or Hertzogprys) is an annual award given to Afrikaans writers by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for the Sciences and Art), formerly the South African Academy for Language, Literature a ...

for ''Die reise van Isobelle'' * Louis Luyt Prize and CNA Prize (1997) *

Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize The Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize was presented from 1967 until 2003 by the Royal Society of Literature for the best regional novel of the year. It is named after the novelist Winifred Holtby who was noted for her novels set in the rural scenes ...

of the

for ''Poppie'' (1980) *

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

for the best play (

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) * Obi Award for best script (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) *

for prose (1998)

List of works

Travelogues

* '' Water en woestyn (Uganda en Kaïro)'', Dagbreek Boekhandel, 1957 * '' Die verste reis (Wes-Europa)'', 1959 * '' Suid van die wind (Madagaskar)'', 1962 * '' Die staf van Monomotapa (Mosambiek)'', 1964 * '' Swerwer in die Herfsland (Oos-Europa)'', 1968 * '' Die nuwe Afrikaan (Angola)'', Tafelberg, 1974 * '' Gordel van Smarag (Indonesië)'', Tafelberg, 1997

Novels and short stories

* '' Ons wag op die kaptein'' – ''To die at sunset'', Tafelberg, 1963 * '' Die Wahlerbrug'', Tafelberg, 1969 * ''

Bonga Bonga is a town, woreda and capital of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region in Ethiopia. Located in the Keffa Zone upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea level. ...

'', Tafelberg, 1971 * '' Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena'', Tafelberg, 1978 – ''The long journey of Poppie Nongena'' (1980), translated into 13 languages and also performed on stage as drama * ''

Melk Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city of Austria, in the federal state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery ...

'' (Short Stories), Tafelberg, 1980 * '' Die laaste Sondag'' – ''The last Sunday'', Tafelberg, 1983 * '' Poppie – die drama'' (co-author Sandra Kotzé), 1984 * '' Die vier vriende'', 1985 – ''The four friends'' (1987) (children's book) * '' Missionaris'', 1988 * '' Dansmaat'' (Short Stories), Tafelberg, 1993 * '' Die reise van Isobelle'', Tafelberg, 1995 * '' Twee Vroue'', Tafelberg, 2002

Autobiographies

* '' 'n Wonderlike Geweld'', Tafelberg, 2005 – ''A Lion on the Landing'' (2014), translated into English by Irene Wainwright * '' Reisiger'', Tafelberg, 2010 * '' Spertyd '', Tafelberg, 2017

References

External links

* * Obituary. {{DEFAULTSORT:Joubert, Elsa 1922 births 2020 deaths Afrikaner people Anti-apartheid activists Sestigers Stellenbosch University alumni University of Cape Town alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Hertzog Prize winners for prose South African women novelists South African travel writers Women travel writers South African women short story writers South African short story writers Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa