March 29, 2024

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Art Is Experience

Iconic SA author Elsa Joubert was ‘a pioneer – ahead of her time’

Elsa Joubert. (Photo: Archive/Netwerk24)

Elsa Joubert. (Photo: Archive/Netwerk24)

  • South African writer Elsa Joubert has died at age ninety seven due to Covid-19.
  • Her guide Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (The Lengthy Journey of Poppie Nongena) was not long ago turned into an award-winning film. 
  • Poppie Nongena has been voted 1 of the prime a hundred very best textbooks of the twentieth century.
  • Soon right before her dying Elsa wrote an open up letter pleading to see her kinfolk as she was in the “very last months and months” of her existence.

Famous South African writer Elsa Joubert has died.

According to Netwerk24 the ninety seven-year-outdated writer died on Sunday in Cape Town due to Covid-19 linked will cause.

Elsa’s son, Nico Steytler, verified that his mom died in Mediclinic Cape Town due to the virus.

Elsa’s effectively-regarded guide Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (The Lengthy Journey of Poppie Nongena) was translated into 13 languages and most not long ago turned into an award-winning film directed by Christian Olwagen and starring Clementine Mosimane.

Channel24 wrote about the film: “Poppie Nongena is a tour de pressure, a cinematic feat, a South African story told with empathy, grace, daring ferocity, and fearlessness. It’s a potent fist in the air that reveals defiance of our past, a reminder that we have a lot to mend from, and there’s nevertheless a extensive path ahead of us.”

Johanthan Ball Publishers reviews that Elsa acquired various awards all through her vocation like the Hertzog Prize (almost certainly the most prestigious award for Afrikaans writing). Elsa was also awarded an honourary doctorate by the University of Stellenbosch. The Lengthy Journey of Poppie Nongena has been voted 1 of the prime a hundred very best textbooks of the twentieth century.

In May perhaps, Elsa wrote an open up letter posted on Netwerk24 pleading to be ready to see her kinfolk as she was in the “very last months and months” of her existence. “I am suffering. Telephone phone calls, and movies, and Skype, and significantly far more assist, but it truly is not enough. It’s not the very same,” she wrote in the letter resolved to her dwelling health practitioner Hans Woermann.

Etienne Bloemhof, publisher at NB Publishers, expressed his shock at the news of Elsa’s dying, saying: 

“In the time I had the honour of working with Elsa I grew to become deeply conscious of her open up spirit and staggering intellect, and sure, her humbleness. She would with terrific element convey to tales from eighty, ninety many years in the past and then simply change again to present-day affairs. There are certainly not enough terms to shell out tribute to her legacy.”

Eloise Wessels, head of NB Publishers, in a assertion introduced on the internet included: “Elsa Joubert was a pioneer, she was ahead of her time. She effectively achieved her possess people with her political information – one thing that evaded other Afrikaans writers. Apart from the cultural and political proportions of her perform it also carried a potent human aspect.”

According to South African Historical past On the net, Elsa, born Elsabé Antoinette Murray Joubert, was born on 19 Oct 1922 in Paarl wherever she grew up, and studied at the universities of Stellenbosch (BA and SOD) and Cape Town (MA in Afrikaans-Nederlands).

Elsa started out her vocation as a substantial faculty trainer in Cradock right before turning into a comprehensive-time writer. She went on to generate various novels, short tales, travelogues and performs.

In an job interview with Die Burger that was posted on 8 December 2001, Elsa is quoted as saying: “The longest journey that any human being can undertake is from 1 human to a different, as a result of their heart.”

Elsa was married to the late journalist and writer, Klaas Steytler. She leaves powering two daughters, Elsabé and Henriëtte, and a son Nico, reviews Litnet.

Poppie Nongena will be available for viewing on DStv Box Business office from 21 June

Elsa Joubert

Elsa and Klaas in 1950 in London all through their engagement. (Photo: Supplied/Netwerk24)

(Resources: SABC, Netwerk24, Litnet, NB Publishers, Johanthan Ball Publishers, South African Historical past On the net, Channel24)