Peter Abrahams photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1955

Peter Abrahams (born March 3, 1919) is a South African novelist.

His father was from Ethiopia and his mother was a mixed race person, a "Kleurlinger" (Coloured). He was born in Vrededorp, nearby Johannesburg, but left South Africa in 1939. He worked first as a sailor, and then as a journalist in London, at which time, he lived with his wife, Daphne, at Loughton. Whilst in London, he met several important black leaders and writers, such as Jomo Kenyatta. He then settled in Jamaica in 1956.^[1] One of South Africa's most prominent black writers,^[2] his work deals with political and social issues, especially with racism. His novel, Mine Boy (1946), one of the first works to bring him to critical attention,^[3] and his memoir Tell Freedom (1954)^[4] deal in part with apartheid.^[5] His other works include the story collection Dark Testament (1942) and the novels The Path of Thunder (1948), A Wreath for Udomo (1956), A Night of Their Own (1965), the Jamaica-set This Island Now (1966, the only one of his novels not set in Africa) and The View from Coyaba (1985). He also wrote This Island Now, which speaks to the ways power and money can change most people's perspectives.

[edit] References

1. ^ Larson, Charles R. (March 1st, 2002). "Self-Exile From Wretchedness : South African novelist Peter Abrahams left his homeland amid the horrors of apartheid and resettled in Jamaica.". World and I (News World Communications, Inc). http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-25311465_ITM. 
2. ^ Thomas, Cornelius (October 29th, 1999). "The pen is mightier". Daily Dispatch. http://www.dispatch.co.za/1999/10/29/features/SNAP.HTM. 
3. ^ Jackson, Sally-Anne (22nd December, 2007). "Peter Abrahams's Mine Boy: a study of colonial diseases in South Africa". Research in African Literatures. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-33263818_ITM. 
4. ^ "Temporality in Life as Seen Through Literature", Analecta Husserliana (Springer Netherlands DOI = 10.1007/1-4020-5331-2) 86: p. 37-46, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4020-5330-6, http://www.springerlink.com/content/gv31738746577875/ 
5. ^ Mason, Philip (January 1955). "Review". International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs) 31 (1): 93-94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2604615. 

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