Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer, political activist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity". Gordimer's writing has long dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa. Under that regime, works such as July's People were banned. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress during the days when the organization was banned. She has recently... been active in HIV/AIDS causes. Gordimer was born near Springs, Gauteng, an East Rand mining town outside Johannesburg, the daughter of Jewish immigrants. Her father, Isidore Gordimer, was a watchmaker from Lithuania near the Latvian border, and her mother Nan was from London. Gordimer's early interest in racial and economic inequality in South Africa was shaped in part by her parents.
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