Breyten Breytenbach (Bonnievale, South Africa, 1939 – Paris, France, 2024) was a writer, poet, painter and a notorious anti-apartheid activist. He settled in Paris in 1962, where he made his debut as a poet and visual artist two years later. In 1975 he visited his native South Africa and was arrested for political terrorism. He spent seven years in prison and wrote the novel about it The true confessions of a white terrorist (1984). After his release, he returned to Paris and became a French citizen. In 2008, Breytenbach received the Hertzog Prize, South Africa's most prestigious literary award. In 2009, he received the honorary Max Jacob Prize for his poetry, and in 2017 he was awarded the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award. On 24 November 2024, he died at the age of 85 at his home in Paris.
