Sheila Meiring Fugard
Encyclopedia
Sheila Meiring Fugard was born in England, moving to South Africa
. She is a writer of short stories and plays and the wife of South African playwright Athol Fugard
.
, England
in 1932, Sheila Meiring moved with her parents to South Africa
, in 1940, when she was eight years old. She went to the University of Cape Town
, where she wrote short stories and studied theatre.
She met playwright Athol Fugard
when she acted in one of his plays. In September 1956, she married Fugard and adopted his surname.
In 1972, when she was 40 years old, Sheila Fugard published her first novel, The Castaways, which won the Olive Schreiner Prize
. Subsequently, she published other novels, including Rite of Passage, in 1976, and A Revolutionary Woman, in 1983.
A Revolutionary Woman, her best-known novel, takes place in the 1920s in the Karoo
district of South Africa and tells the story of a female disciple of Mahatma Gandhi
who gets entangled in a rape case between a young colored boy and a young retarded Boer girl.
Rite of Passage concerns a doctor and a young boy traumatized by a tribal circumcision ceremony.
Fugard has also published collected poems, including Threshold, in 1975, and Mystic Things, in 1981.
Athol Fugard acted in the BBC adaptation of her novel The Castaways.
Their daughter, Lisa Fugard
, who has acted in some of her father's plays, such as My Children! My Africa!, has also written a novel.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. She is a writer of short stories and plays and the wife of South African playwright Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
.
Personal history
Born in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1932, Sheila Meiring moved with her parents to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, in 1940, when she was eight years old. She went to the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
, where she wrote short stories and studied theatre.
She met playwright Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
when she acted in one of his plays. In September 1956, she married Fugard and adopted his surname.
In 1972, when she was 40 years old, Sheila Fugard published her first novel, The Castaways, which won the Olive Schreiner Prize
Olive Schreiner Prize
The Olive Schreiner Prize is an annual award to new and emergent talent administered by the English Academy of South Africa.-Award winners:*2010 Poetry Finuala Dowling Notes from the Dementia Ward*2009 Prose Michael Cawood Green For The Sake of Silence...
. Subsequently, she published other novels, including Rite of Passage, in 1976, and A Revolutionary Woman, in 1983.
A Revolutionary Woman, her best-known novel, takes place in the 1920s in the Karoo
Karoo
The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The 'High' Karoo is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger South African Platform division.-Great Karoo:The Great Karoo has an area of...
district of South Africa and tells the story of a female disciple of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
who gets entangled in a rape case between a young colored boy and a young retarded Boer girl.
Rite of Passage concerns a doctor and a young boy traumatized by a tribal circumcision ceremony.
Fugard has also published collected poems, including Threshold, in 1975, and Mystic Things, in 1981.
Athol Fugard acted in the BBC adaptation of her novel The Castaways.
Their daughter, Lisa Fugard
Lisa Fugard
Lisa Fugard was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the only child of playwright Athol Fugard and novelist Sheila Meiring Fugard. She moved to New York City in 1980 to pursue an acting career, and has garnered numerous stage and film roles, including Isabel Dyson in the original production of her...
, who has acted in some of her father's plays, such as My Children! My Africa!, has also written a novel.
External links
- "Sheila Fugard" (Index of articles) at Highbeam.com.