Jayapraga Reddy (1947–1996) was an

Indian South African Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the la ...

writer of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, plays, and a memoir. Reddy was born in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

in 1947, where she would live her whole life. Reddy was affected by

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

, as were two of her brothers, and she used a wheelchair for most of her life. Reddy published her first story, "The Lost Tube of Toothpaste", when she was only twelve years old. She enjoyed unusual success both domestically and internationally as an Indian woman during

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 ...

: in 1975 her stories "The Love Beads" and "The Stricken Land" were broadcast on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and in the 1980s several more of her stories were published in ''

Staffrider ''Staffrider'' was a South African literary magazine that was published between 1978 and 1996. History and profile ''Staffrider'' was first published in March 1978. Its founder was Mike Kirkwood. The magazine took its name from slang for people ...

'' and her play, ''The Web of Persuasion'', was produced by

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

. Her 1987 short story collection, ''On the Fringe of Dreamtime and Other Stories'', was one of only a handful of books by South African women of colour published in that decade. Many of Reddy's stories explore themes of race, gender, family and disability. Reddy composed an autobiography, titled ''The Unbending Reed'', which she submitted to a number of publishers. The book was still unpublished when she died in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, Jayapraga 1947 births 1996 deaths Writers from Durban South African short story writers South African women short story writers 20th-century South African writers 20th-century South African women writers 20th-century memoirists South African dramatists and playwrights South African women dramatists and playwrights South African people of Indian descent People with muscular dystrophy South African people with disabilities Indian writers with disabilities Indian wheelchair users South African people of Telugu descent