- published: 14 Jul 2014
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Nadine Gordimer (born 20 November 1923) 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. Her father's experience as a Jewish refugee in czarist Russia helped form Gordimer's political identity, but he was neither an activist nor particularly sympathetic toward the experiences of black people under apartheid. Conversely, Gordimer saw activism by her mother, whose concern about the poverty and discrimination faced by black people in South Africa ostensibly led her to found a crèche for black children. Gordimer also witnessed government repression firsthand when yet a teenager; the police raided her family home, confiscating letters and diaries from a servant's room.
Nobel-winning South African author Nadine Gordimer in 1987
Talk to Al Jazeera - Nadine Gordimer: 'The culture of corruption'
Nadine Gordimer on racism
21 Icons : Nadine Gordimer : Short Film
Nadine Gordimer Remembered | Charlie Rose
Once Upon a Time- Nadine Gordimer
Remembering writer and activist Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer - 08/07/2007
Gordimer1991.mp4
Nadine Gordimer reads a short story
IN CONVERSATION - NADINE GORDIMER
Nadine Gordimer at the 92nd Street Y: April 1961
Nadine Gordimer a Milano
The Ultimate safari by Nadine Gordimer.