Academy pays tribute to an illustrious member

It is with regret that the English Academy of Southern Africa bids farewell to one of its most celebrated Gold Medallists, the late Es’kia Mphahlele, Professor Emeritus of African Literature at Wits. Prof. Mphahlele, founding head of the Department of African Literature, passed away on Monday, 27 October 2008. He was born in Marabastad, Pretoria on 17 December 1919.  The Academy Gold Medal was awarded to him in 1994 as one of the major pioneers of black writing in English in South Africa, and as an author, critic and academic of international standing.

Over the course of a long career as a writer and educationalist, Prof. Mphahlele published several works for which he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, following the publication of his novel, The Wanderers.

Prof. Es’kia Mphahlele was the first black student to be awarded an MA in 1956 by the University of South Africa (Unisa). His dissertation formed the basis for his important critical study The African Image (1962). Well before this, he had published his first collection of stories, Man must Live, followed by two further collections: The Living and the Dead and In Corner B.
After a spell with Drum magazine, Prof. Mphahlele went into exile in Lagos in 1957, publishing probably his best-know work, the autobiographical Down Second Avenue (1959). Appointments at various universities in Kenya, Zambia, France and the United States followed. While in the US, Prof. Mphahlele taught at the University of Denver, where he obtained a Ph.D. in creative writing in 1968. Volumes of autobiography, critical essays and guides to creative writing have appeared from his pen, as well as a second novel, Chirundu. He returned to South Africa in 1977 and joined the University of the Witwatersrand shortly afterwards. He retired in 1987.

In addition to receiving the Academy’s highest accolade – the Gold Medal for distinguished services to English over a lifetime – other highlights of Prof. Mphahlele’s career include:

• 1986 Awarded the Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French government
• 1989 Professor Peter Thuyansma from University of Witwatersrand published Footprints Along the Way in his honour
• 1997 African Studies Centre Award, University of Pennsylvania, USA, for the best essay in African studies
• 1999 National Silver Award of the Southern Cross, South Africa, awarded by former President Nelson Mandela
• 2002 Founding of the Es’kia Institute for the promotion of creative writing in Southern Africa.

There can be few people in the history of the Academy who have worked harder and more effectively for the health and success of the organization.

The late David Philip

David Philip, a prominent member of the English Academy, recently died in Cape Town at the age of 81. After working for 17 years as editorial manager at OUP South Africa, he started the David Philip publishing house with his wife Marie in 1971. The authors he published established their fine reputation as an “oppositional” publishing house during the worst days of apartheid. After his retirement, the imprint was taken over by New Africa Books, of which he and Marie remained directors. David is survived by his wife Marie.

Parliamentary committee supports Academy on language in the Constitution

The Report of the ad hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions, which sat under the chairmanship of Professor Kader Asmal, M.P., has endorsed the English Academy’s interpretation of the language clauses in the South African Constitution.

The matter is most significant for language politics in South Africa. The Academy submitted evidence to this commission which seems to have born fruit. Possibly other submissions made the same points, one does not know.

The Academy’s evidence was that the PanSALB Act was out of kilter with the Constitution and that there was an overlap of the functions of PanSALB and the more recently set up Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities and the Human Rights Commission.

The Constitution, in the language rights clauses in the Founding Provisions and in the later sections, 29,30 and 31, while granting language rights, does not require “equal” use of all official languages. It uses the term “equitable” (which is not the same both in law and in common usage), it talks of “parity of esteem” for all languages, and says that the following should be taken into account: ”usage, practicality, expense, regional circumstances and the balance of the needs and preferences of the population as a whole or in the province concerned.” This is in 6(3/4). 29(2) talks of what is “reasonably practicable,” invokes “equity” (not “equality”) and again “practicability,” and grants the right to education in the language of choice. 30 and 31 give rights to communities to the language, culture and religion of choice.

English as language of choice for language of learning may not be the choice only of native English-speakers, but for many others. PanSALB has shown the tendency to want to instruct parents that they should not choose to have their children educated through English. The issue is a complex one, as it is desirable for young children to enjoy early cognitive development in the home language or mother tongue. On the other hand, there is the pressing need for those with academic ability to acquire the competence in English needed for tertiary education.

The PanSALB Act, which establishes the Pan South African Language Board as required in the Constitution, talks of the “equal,” not “equitable,” use of all the official languages, and in almost the same breath, of the need for “multilingualism” (3a). There is none of the flexibility and pragmatism of the Constitution itself: “usage, practicality, expense,” and so on.

The Asmal Commission points to this as a “serious discrepancy”, while adding that the PanSALB Board, when confronted with this, preferred its own construction. The Commission points out that the “equal” use of all languages would “have enormous and far-reaching social, political and business and resource implications and would not be possible” (120/121). The Commission pertinently draws the attention of Parliament to this matter.

All this is very much what the Academy submitted. The overlap of PanSALB and the Commission for the Rights of Religion etc., mentioned earlier, is also taken up, and the merging of PanSALB and this Commission is recommended. The Lexicography Units of PanSALB seem to be excluded from the merger because of the apparently different nature of their activities. It would, in fact, be a pity if PanSALB disappeared (although the overlap does indeed exist) as much good work has been done on the African languages, although very much more still needs to be done. PanSALB’s structure of a series of National Language Bodies (the NLBs) is worthwhile. However, one does need a PanSALB that has, in certain respects, been rescued from current political correctness and brought to its senses. Possibly, PanSALB should be left to deal with language, while the other Commission deals with religion and culture.

Now, it should be pointed out that the Asmal Commission may well be left to gather dust on a shelf. However, the Academy’s points were fully justified by the Commissioners in their Report.The matter has great implications for the conduct of language affairs in South Africa in public life, not least in education. About three years ago, the Academy sent a letter to the Ministers of Education and of Arts and Culture to the effect that English was ineluctably the language of tertiary education and that, while other languages should obviously be taught as fully as possible in school to those who wanted them, all those with a chance of benefiting from tertiary education should get adequate tuition in English at school. The letter got a brief formal acknowledgement from the Minister of Education, saying that the arguments would be made known to the officials of the Department, and an indignant note from the Minister of Arts and Culture to the effect that that English was too powerful.

The Asmal Commission has vindicated the Academy’s arguments that there, unavoidably, has to be a certain pragmatism in language governance in this country. Language choice is a key concern: young people, or their parents for them, who wish to be educated through English are entitled to their choice. Furthermore, the question of language domains as part of a normal dispensation in a multilingual society is justifiable. To some, this idea is, naturally, wormwood. For various others as well as the Academy the Report is a great encouragement.

Even if the Asmal Commission suffers the fate of many a commission to be swept under the carpet or relegated to the shelf, the points made by the Academy have received independent support from a high-powered body of appointed commissioners, among them certain with legal and constitutional expertise. There are those who would like to be dismissive and who will continue to talk loosely about the buzz-word “multilingualism” without really trying to work out what it means or involves, but arguments for a more thoughtful, nuanced analysis of the language sociology of this country have received a powerful endorsement.

PJH Titlestad

Gold Medal awarded to Prof. Rosemary Gray

Professor Rosemary Gray was awarded the Gold Medal of the English Academy of Southern Africa for distinguished services to English, at the opening of the English Academy conference at the University of Pretoria on  22 June 2008. The citation for the award reads as follows:

Rosemary Gray became President at a time of considerable pressure on the Academy, both internal and external, and she has applied her energies to great effect in revitalizing the organization both during her presidency and after. Internally, there was need to tighten up organizational procedures, secure sponsorship, recruit more members and re-vamp key projects, such as the English Academy Review and the Academy conferences. Externally, there was the demand to deliver more to our members, to persuade hesitant external supporters of the value of what the Academy stands for, and to upgrade our public profile. She has been effective to a considerable degree under all these heads.

The last Academy Conference in particular (“Africa in Literature,” 15th International Conference of the English Academy of Southern Africa), which Professor Gray convened in Cape Town, was an outstanding success from an intellectual and organizational point of view; and it should be recognized that despite notional participation by several other bodies, virtually the full burden of organization fell on Professor Gray and her small team. As far as the English Academy Review is concerned, she has succeeded in retaining a South African publishing base for the journal, while also securing international distribution and status for the publication. This is a major step forward for the Academy.

Rosemary Gray is a well-regarded South African academic, widely-published, and active in many areas beyond the purview of the Academy. She is particularly known for encouraging and fostering the research talents of young academics from formerly disadvantaged backgrounds.

Brief biographical information
She taught in the former Rhodesia at Plumtree Secondary School and later at Pretoria Boy's High when she arrived in South Africa. She joined the Department of English at the University of Pretoria around 1980, as a junior lecturer, and finished as a professor. She has an excellent research record and is rated by the NRF.

She has served two terms as President of the Academy, during which time she transformed the Academy's financial and organisational position.

She serves on the executive of the National Arts Council and has served on a number of other important bodies.

In the light of her outstanding contribution to the work of the Academy, we put forward the name of Professor Rosemary Gray for consideration by Council as a recipient of the English Academy Medal.

The Olive Schreiner Prize award ceremony 2008

Sponsored by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, the Olive Schreiner Prize is awarded annually in one of the following categories: Poetry, Drama or Prose, as encouragement for work of great promise in these genres. It is awarded for original literary work in English written by a citizen of a Southern African country and published in Southern Africa. The 2007 Olive Schreiner Prize was awarded to Rustum Kozain for his poetry anthology This Carting Life published by Kwela Books (2005).

The presentation of the 2007 award was made by the English Academy’s President, Dr Barbara Basel, at the Commonwealth Literary Awards function held during the Franschhoek Literary Festival on 18 May 2008. Mrs Evelyn Cresswell, a member of the 2007 Olive Schreiner Poetry Prize adjudication panel, was also present. The English Academy, an organization that seeks to stimulate interest in the English language and its literatures, is proud that a winner of one of its highly esteemed literary prizes was honoured at this prestigious function that rewards other highly acclaimed writers of fiction.

The Franschhoek Literary Festival took place on 16, 17 and 18 May 2008. More than 30 authors and poets, together with the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize regional winners and many others who love and promote books, participated in this popular literary event. The aims of this literary get-together are to appreciate and encourage writers, to foster a vibrant culture of reading and to raise funds for community and school libraries. An important aspect of the festival was the visiting writers’ interaction with school children and learners in a nearby prison, all of whom took part in a poetry competition. The very varied programme included Rustum Kozain’s reading of his poetry, including poems from This Carting Life.

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is awarded annually by the Commonwealth Foundation to the best Commonwealth fiction written by both established and new writers from the Commonwealth regions of Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe and South Asia, South East Asia and the South Pacific.  The function was held for the first time in South Africa and was a very glamorous affair. In attendance was the Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Z Pallo Jordon, Dr Mark Collins, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, and Nicholas Hasluck, Chairman of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Cape Town standup comic, Soli Philander, was the master of ceremonies and kept the audience amused with his razor sharp quips.

After the general welcome and introductions, the first item on the agenda was the presentation of the English Academy’s 2007 Olive Schreiner Prize to Rustum Kozain for his poetry anthology This Carting Life. Dr Basel spoke briefly about the Olive Schreiner Prize and read a short extract from the citation before presenting the award to Rustum. He responded by reading the poem Kingdom of Rain from his winning anthology. True to form, Soli Philander remarked on the adjudication panel’s comment that Rustum’s poetry was ‘very dense and charged’. According to Soli he had frequently been called ‘dense’ at school but nobody had given him a prize!

The winners of the two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes for the Best Book -- The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (Canada) and Best First Book – A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh) – were were then announced amidst much excitement.

2005 Autumn School

We jointly hosted the 2005 school on 16 April with the Friends of the General Smuts Foundation. Writers from 1900 to 1950 were discussed and extracts from their works read.. The works of Afrikaans poets were also discussed, especially N P van Wyk Louw's Raka. Smuts's memoirs as well Denys Reitz's Commando were also highlighted. The School also included a visit to the Smuts Memorial Museum in Irene, Pretoria.

Prof. Elwyn Jenkins, convener of the 2005 Autumn School and member of the English Academy Executive Committee

Idette Noomé, member of the Academy and reader at the 2005 Autumn Shool.

Prof Elwyn Jenkins, winner of the 2007 Gold Medal for distinguished service to English

Prof Nhlanhla Maake, master of ceremonies at the 2007 Commemorative lecture.

Percy FitzPatrick winner

Thayalan Reddy, Jenny Robson, winner of the 2006 Percy Fitzpatrick Youth Literature Prize, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, renowned Kenyan writer

Patrick Mynhardt becomes first Honorary Member

During the Autumn School of the English Academy of Southern Africa, Patrick Maynhardt, becme the first Honorary Member of the Academy. He was awarded this honour at the North-West University's Potchefstroom Campus in May 2006. Here he is with Suzie Zerman, the winner of the 2006 Gwen Knowles-Williams bursary (left) and Prof. Rosemary Gray, President of the Academy, who presented he awards.

AWARDS CEREMONY, UCT CAPE TOWN, JULY 10, 2005

Prof. Njabulu Ndebele, 2005 winner of the English Academy Gold Medal for distinghuised service to English with Prof. Rosemary Gray, President of the Academy.

Michael Williams accepting the Percy FitzPatrick award for Youth Literature for The Eighth Man at Huis der Nederlanden in collaboration with the Children's Book Forum.

English Academy Council members Drs Barbara Basel and Malcolm Venter at the Percy FitzPatrick awards of 7 April 2005 at the Huis der Nederlanden, Cape Town.

Profs Rosemary Gray (president of the Academy), and Profs Njabulu Ndebele (UCT). Bernth Lindfors (Texas) and Peter Titlestad (UP), all three winners of the EA Gold Medal for distinguished service to English.

Percy Baneshik Lecture — 23 February 2006

Chris van Wyk, presenter of the memorial lecture, Writing about the Neighbour, and Prof. Rosemary Gray, president of the Academy on the podium during the Bercy Baneshik Memorial Lecture event.

Writing about the neighbour

Chris van Wyk entertained the attendees with an account of the material he used for his 2004 publication Shirley Goodness & Mercy, a novel about the neigbourhood in which he grew up. The full text will appear in EAR, the Academy's accredited journal. The superb accptance speeches of John Kani (winner of the Olive Schreiner Prize for Nothing but the Truth and Carolyn McKinney (winner of the Thomas Pringle Award for best educational artcle) will appear in the forthcoming Newsletter.

John Kani, winner of the Olive Schreiner Prize for his play Nothing but the Truth with Mr Malcolm Perky.

Dr Carolyn McKinney accepting the Thomas Pringle Award for the Best Educational Article entitled A Little Hard Piece of Grass in my Shoe.

Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Laureate, and Prof. Rosemary Gray at the same function.

Prof. Rosemary Gray, president of the Academy and Prof. Charles Isaacson, close friend of Percy Baneshik and his sister, Mrs Don, at the 2006 English Academy Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture

Prof. Peter Titlestad, prof. Marcia Leveson and Chris van Wyk at the Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture.

AWARDS CEREMONY, STELLENBOSCH, JUNE 22, 2004

Prof. Stan Ridge recipient of the Gold Medal for his distinguished service to English in SA.

Jane Rosenthal (Mail and Guardian), winner of Thomas Pringle Award in the Review Category receives her award from Prof. Rosemary Gray, President of the Academy.

Dolly Reddy, Lewis Nkosi and Prof. David Attwell (Chair of SAACLALS) and Prof. Rosemary Gray (President of the Academy).

Prof. Rosemary Gray with Rustum Kozain, winner of the Pringle Award for Poetry in Journals

AWARDS CEREMONY, KILLIE CAMPBELL LIBRARY, DURBAN, JULY 2004

Prof. Keith Chick (co-author of winning educational article), His Worship, Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo, Prof. Rosemary Gray (President of the Academy) and Dolly Reddy, Member of the EA.

PRESENTATION CEREMONY, CAPE TOWN MARCH 2003

From the left - Dr Malcolm Venter, 2002 Gold Medal Winner, Fidelus Chu, recipient of the Gwen Knowles-Williams Bursary for furthering studies in English (MA at UWC) and Professor Rosemary Gray, President of the Academy, at the Cape Town Awards ceremony.

Xoli Norman (recipient of the 2002 Olive Schreiner prize for drama), John Kani (Director of the National Arts Council), Academy President Professor Rosemary Gray and Academy Gold Medal recipient Wally Serote pose with a portrait of the late Percy Baneshik, at the Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture and Awards Ceremony.

Wally Serote was awarded the Academy Gold Medal for his distinguished service to English in South Africa.

He is best known for his protest poem City Johannesburg. By choosing to write this poem in English at a time when Afrikaans was the language of instruction in many South African Schools, Serote emphasized that English was the language of access. His 'unblemished plain English' served both to legitimise and to popularise the language. Serote‘s creative skill and graphic imagery helped his readers to ‘think’ in English, both verbally and pictorially.

Wally Serote with Nadine Gordimer at the same function

John Kani delivering the Percy Baneshik Memorial lecture at the Wits Business School