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Adam Small awarded Hertzog prize
The
Hertzog prize is the greatest literary honour the Academy for Arts
and Science can bestow on Afrikaans writers. Its list of previous
winners include great names like André P Brink (twice), NP van Wyk
Louw, Elisabeth Eybers, Antjie Krog and Breyten Breytenbach (three
times).
It was in fact Breytenbach who voiced a commonly held
view in 2009 when he publicly asked: "Waar is Adam Small se
Hertzogprys?" (Where is Adam Small's Hertzog prize?).
Small is the first non-white writer to be awarded the prize. Having
done his most important work in the 60s and 70s, the award
is seen to be a corrective on the exclusion of the past.
Authoritative
literary historian and critic JC Kannemeyer considered him worthy of a
place among the best international playwrights, based mainly on his
drama Kanna hy kô hystoe (Kanna
comes home). Small often wrote phonetically in the dialect known as
Kaaps, especially spoken by the coloured population of Cape Town.
Besides his work as playwright, he is also a prominent poet, professor
of philosophy and leader on various cultural and social terrains. This
year he celebrates his 75th birthday.
From Poland, we congratulate Adam Small.
TheTydskrif vir Letterkunde ('Journal for literature') published a special Adam Small edition.
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