James Matthews, OIS (24 May 1929 – 7 September 2024) was a South African poet, writer and publisher. During the

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era his poetry was banned, and Matthews was detained by the government in 1976 and for 13 years was denied a passport.

Biography

James David Matthews was born to working-class parents in

District Six District Six (Afrikaans: ''Distrik Ses'') is a residential neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa, located next to the city's Cape Town CBD, CBD. In 1959, people of color were banned from the area and most of them were resettled in Gugulet ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, on 29 May 1929."James David Matthews"
South African History Online. He attended Prestwich Primary School and then went on to

Trafalgar High School Trafalgar High School is a government-funded co-educational secondary day school, located in Trafalgar, West Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It officially opened in 1964 after running classes on the original Trafalgar Primary School grounds ...

. He said:

"I grew up in a household where there were no shelves filled with books. My father was illiterate and my mother read ''Oracle'' and ''Miracle'', two thin paperbacks from the United Kingdom which could hardly be considered as literature.... I was almost 14 and in standard eight (grade 10) when we were asked to write a composition. It is now termed creative writing. I will never forget the name of our English teacher – Miss Meredith. She announced to the class that I had written a short story and not a composition. She marked it 21, one mark above the accepted 20 and informed the class that I was a writer. My introduction to a library was one of wonderment. I was a messenger at the ''
Cape Times The ''Cape Times'' is an English-language morning newspaper owned by Sekunjalo Investments, Independent News & Media SA and published in Cape Town, South Africa. the newspaper had a daily readership of 261000 and a circulation of 34523. By th ...
'' and a reporter asked me to take her books to the library. I was confronted by row upon row of stalls stacked with books. My eyes travelled along the lines of names and titles. None of them were known to me. My reading at that stage was limited to
James Hadley Chase James Hadley Chase (24 December 1906 – 6 February 1985) was an English writer. While his birth name was René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well known by his various pseudonyms, including James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Raymond ...
. Tentatively I asked the reporter if I could take out a book for myself when I returned her books the following time. She agreed and a new world opened to me because public libraries were then exclusively for the benefit of whites....James Matthews
"How reading can change your life"
''Mail & Guardian'', 15 April 2016.

After leaving school, Matthews had a number of jobs, including as newspaper boy, office messenger, clerk and telephonist; then following the publication of his first writings in 1946, when he was aged 17, he found work as a journalist, over the years contributing to various national publications such as the ''Golden City Post'', '' The Cape Times'', and ''

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

'', as well as the independent community newspaper ''The Muslim News''. Matthews through his poetry became "a leading articulator of the

Black Consciousness The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Af ...

philosophy". In 1972 his first collection, ''Cry Rage'' (co-authored with Gladys Thomas), was published. It was banned by the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

regime — the first poetry collection to be thus targeted — as would also happen to most of his later works. Matthews was detained by the government in 1976, and was denied a passport for 13 years."About James Matthews"
The Poetry Archive. He established the first black-founded art gallery in South Africa (Gallery Afrique) in 1972, and the first black-owned publishing house, BLAC (standing for Black Literature Arts and Culture), 1974–91, which closed as a result of constant government harassment. In 2000, he founded the publishing house Realities. In 1984, Matthews visited the campus of the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

and met with students there who, so profoundly influenced by his descriptions of the horrors of the Apartheid regime, would go on to organize thousands of students to occupy the main administration building at Iowa and ultimately convince University authorities to sell off all portfolio investments in companies that were doing business in South Africa. Matthews was a founding member and the patron of the

Congress of South African Writers The Congress of South African Writers (COSAW) is a South African grassroots writer's organisation. Launched in July 1987, its initial aims were to promote literature and redress the imbalances of apartheid Apartheid ( , especially Sou ...

from its inception in 1987. Matthews died in Cape Town on 7 September 2024, at the age of 95.

Honours and recognition

Awards that Matthews received included the Woza Afrika Award (1978), Kwaza Honours List – Black Arts Celebration,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

(1979), and the Freeman of the towns of

Lehrte Lehrte () is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 17 km east of Hanover. In the 19th century Lehrte was the most important railway junction in the former Kingdom of Hanover. As of the 2 ...

and Nienburg, Germany (1982). He was the recipient of a national honour, the

Order of Ikhamanga The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African civilian honour that recognises achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports. Before the order was established on 30 November 2003, such achievements were recognised by the ...

(Silver), in December 2004, for "His excellent achievements in literature, contributing to journalism and his inspirational commitment to the struggle for a non-racial South Africa." On 11 March 2013, he received an honorary doctorate 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 ...

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

also awarded him an honorary doctorate, on 31 March 2016.

Film

In 2014, Shelley Barry's documentary ''Diaries of A Dissident Poet'', a film profiling James Matthews, premiered at the Encounters Film Festival in South Africa.

Awards

* Woza Afrika Award (1978) * Kwaza Honours List — Black Arts Celebration, Chicago, U.S.A. (1979) * Freeman of Lehrte and Nienburg, Germany (1982) * National

(Silver), South African government (2004) * Honorary doctorate,

(2013) * Honorary doctorate,

(2016)

Bibliography

Poetry

*''Cry Rage'' (1972), Spro-Cas Publications *''Black Voices Shout'' (1974) *''Pass me a Meatball, Jones'' (1977) *''No Time for Dreams'' (1981), BLAC Publications *''Poisoned Wells and Other Delights'' (1990), BLAC Publications *''Flames and Flowers'' (2000), Realities *''Poems from a Prison Cell'' (2002), Realities *''Age is a Beautiful Phase'' (2008), Realities *''Gently Stirs My Soul'' (2015),

Short stories

*''The Park and Other Stories'' (1983),

Ravan Press Ravan Press, established in 1972 by Peter Ralph Randall, Danie van Zyl, and Beyers Naudé, was a South African anti-apartheid publishing house.

Novels

*''The Party is Over'' (1997), Kwela

References

External links

Poetry Africa UKZN entry
* Mphutlane Wa Bofelo
"James Matthews: Still Kicking Butt @ 77"
''Botsotso'', 6 May 2013. * James Matthews
"How reading can change your life"
''Mail & Guardian'', 15 April 2016. * Paul Maylam
"Citation for James Matthews"
(Honorary graduand, Rhodes University, 31 March 2016). {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, James 1929 births 2024 deaths 20th-century South African male writers 20th-century South African poets 21st-century South African male writers 21st-century South African poets South African anti-apartheid activists International Writing Program alumni Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga South African male journalists South African publishers (people) Writers from Cape Town Cape Times journalists