Moalosi Jacob Qoopane (1955–2017), also known as “Flaxman” was known as “the father of literature and arts” in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

. Qoopane was a South African literary activist and internationally recognised author, poet, journalist and biographer.

Early life

Qoopane was born in 1955 in

Mangaung Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongside the legislative cap ...

in the Free State. He spent most of his childhood as well as career in the Free State. His interest for writing began at an early age.

Career

Qoopane left for Tanzania and lived in exile from 1977 to 1992. Upon his return, he continued to write articles, essays, fictional stories and poetry. Flaxman Qoopane and Omoseye Bolaji soon became household names in

. Their popularity grew due to as their articles were frequently published in the ''Next'' magazine. Qoopane also contributed to a popular national daily newspaper, the ''Daily Sun'' and also ''Realtime'' magazine. Qoopane's work also appeared in publications such as ''Hola'', ''Sowetan'', ''Bona'', ''Drum'', ''A and E'', ''Kopanaang'' and ''Free State News''. /sup> Qoopane established and curated the Qoopane Literary Gallery where profiles of local writers and journalists are displayed sourced from an extensive range of newspaper and magazine clippings. /sup> He also developed the children's library in Hillside View in Rocklands. /sup> The library is close to the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

satellite campus in

and caters for approximately 100 children. /sup> Qoopane also published in the ''Bloemfontein Courant.'' Qoopane dedicated his time and effort into creating opportunities and resources to writers in Bloemfontein. He was one of the most well-known writers whose career spanned the period of unbanning Black people from publishing their work in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Travels

Qoopane has showcased his writing and poetry work in countries such as the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

His journalism continued to develop during his time in exile and Qoopane was particularly successful in East Africa.

Bibliography

Works written by Qoopane include: * ''The Crest: Omoseye Bolaji honoured in Nigeria'' (2008) * ''Macufe 2001'' (2002) * ''City of Roses and Literary Icons'' (2007) * ''Reneiloe-Mpho's story'' (2002) * ''A Poet Abroad'' (2000) * ''Memoirs of a Cultural Activist'' (2000) * ''Adventures in Journalism'' (2001) The book ''Reneiloe-Mpho's story'' is believed to have been dedicated to his daughter Reneiloe-Mpho when she was 2 years old. Qoopane also had many unpublished and minor writings including, ''Women of Talent''. The book ''Letters to a Poet'' was edited by Alitta M Mokhuoa. It focused on Qoopane's early correspondence as a journalist and inspired many writers such as

Zakes Mda Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni "Zakes" Mda () (born 1948) is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays. He is the son of politician A. P. Mda. Early life and ...

, Njabulo Ndebele and Vonani Bila.

Death

Qoopane died on the 22 November in 2017 at the age of 62. He was reportedly ill prior to his death. Qoopane was working as a communications officer at the metro’s officer at the time of his death. Various members of the Bloemfontein community also took various social media sites to express their sadness over Qoopane’s death.

References