E.K.M. Dido (born 1951), often simply known as Dido, is a South African writer. With her first book ''Die storie van Monica Peters'' (1996), she became the first black woman to publish an

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

-language novel.

Early life and education

E.K.M. Dido was born in 1951 in

Tsomo Tsomo is a town in Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town is 45 km east of Qamata and 48 km west of Ndabakazi. History Founded in 1877, it originated as a military station known as Tsomo ...

, South Africa. She was the oldest daughter in a family of 12 children. Dido describes her parents as

coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

, and she grew up speaking

interchangeably with

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

. She is also fluent in English. Dido went to a Catholic boarding school in Cradock. She then trained as a nurse, eventually gaining a bachelor's in nursing administration, community nursing, and nursing education from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

. She settled in Cape Town in 1972.

Literary career

The author publishes under the name E.K.M. Dido. She keeps private what E.K.M. stands for, only saying that it is a combination of her mother's, grandmother's, and great-grandmother's names. Dido's writing focuses on South African women dealing with societal and personal issues in a country caught between modernity and tradition, and amid a swirl of cultural identities. She is considered a pioneer of

Afrikaans literature Afrikaans literature is literature written in Afrikaans. Afrikaans is the daughter language of 17th-century Dutch and is spoken by the majority of people in the Western Cape of South Africa and among Afrikaners and Coloured South Africans in othe ...

. In 1996, she published ''Die storie van Monica Peters'' ("The Story of Monica Peters"). With this, she became the first black woman to publish an Afrikaans-language novel. She had originally written the story in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

before deciding to publish it in Afrikaans instead. She rejects "the bad idea that Afrikaans belongs to white people." Her 2000 novel ''’n Stringetjie blou krale'' ("A String of Blue Beads") was considered her real breakthrough, dealing with issues of racial identity and "

" ancestry in South Africa. It was followed by the novels ''Die onsigbares'' (2003) and ''’n Ander ek'' ''i'' (2007). Her short stories have been included in Afrikaans anthologies and in the English-language collection ''In the Rapids: New South African Stories'' (2001). She has been involved with the

Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (Afrikaans for '' Little Karoo National Arts Festival'' and usually abbreviated to ''KKNK'') is an Afrikaans language arts festival that takes place yearly in the South African town of Oudtshoorn. The festival ...

and served as director of Suidoosterfees, a cultural festival in Cape Town. In 2012, as part of Suidoosterfees, she adapted her short story "Baby" for the stage. In 2005, Dido was granted an honorary doctorate in literature from the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a Public university, public research university in Bellville, South Africa, Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the Politics of South Africa, South ...

. Alongside her literary efforts, she continued to teach nursing in the suburbs of Cape Town.{{Cite book , last=MacLean , first=Barbara Hutmacher , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SPe7ZAfYmsC&pg=PA220 , title=Strike a Woman, Strike a Rock: Fighting for Freedom in South Africa , date=2004 , publisher=Africa World Press , isbn=978-1-59221-076-3 , language=en

Selected works

* ''Die storie van Monica Peters'' (1996) * ''Rugdraai en stilbly'' (1997) * ''’n Stringetjie blou krale'' (2000) * ''Die onsigbares'' (2003) * ''’n Ander ek'' ''i'' (2007) * ''Emma en Nella'' (2010)

References

1951 births Living people People from Chris Hani District Municipality South African women novelists Afrikaans-language writers South African people of African descent University of South Africa alumni South African nurses