Neshani Andreas (1964 – May 2011) was a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n writer, who had also worked as a teacher and for the American

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

. She is best known for her novel ''The Purple Violet of Oshaantu'', which made her the first Namibian to be included in

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an int ...

. She died at the age of 46, having been diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in early 2010.

Early life

She was born in

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...

South-West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

(now

), in 1964, the second of eight children, and first worked at a clothing factory. Her parents were both employees of a fish factory. Andreas wanted to be a writer from a young age. She studied at the teachers' college in

Ongwediva Ongwediva is a town in the Oshana Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Ongwediva electoral constituency. it had 27,000 inhabitants and covered 4,102 hectares of land. Ongwediva has seven churches, two private sch ...

and taught there for five years. Andreas went on to earn 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 years ...

and a post-graduate diploma in education at the

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, as well as the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the follow ...

. She was an associate director of the American

in Namibia for four years. It was there that she met the first person to encourage her writing, which she later described as "one of the most treasured moments in my life".

Teaching and writing career

From 1988 to 1992, Andreas taught at a rural school in northern Namibia. In 2001, she published ''The Purple Violet of Oshaantu'' which was inspired in part by her experiences there. The novel explores the status of women in traditional Namibian society. When the book was published as part of the

by publishers

; the first Namibian author to have a work included. The work gained her international attention, being one of the first post-independence novels published following the South African occupation. She explained that at the time, the writing culture was not well established in Namibia, describing the work as "lonely". At the time of publishing her first novel, she was 37 years old. Andreas was working as a programme officer for the

Forum for African Women Educationalists The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a pan-African non-governmental organization founded in 1992 by five women ministers of education to promote girls’ and women’s education in sub-Saharan Africa by making sure they have acc ...

at the time of her death at the age of 46. The organisation seeks to educate women and girls. She had been diagnosed with

in early 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andreas, Neshani 1964 births 2011 deaths Namibian women writers University of Namibia alumni People from Walvis Bay 20th-century Namibian writers 21st-century Namibian writers 20th-century Namibian women writers 21st-century Namibian women writers