Breyten Breytenbach

Breyten Breytenbach
Breytenbach at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival.
Breytenbach at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival.
Born (1939-09-16) 16 September 1939 (age 85)
Bonnievale, Cape Province, South Africa
OccupationNovelist, essayist, poet, painter
LanguageAfrikaans, English
Citizenship
  • South Africa
  • France (since 1982)
Alma materUniversity of Cape Town
Notable awards
SpouseYolande
RelativesJan Breytenbach (brother)

Breyten Breytenbach (Afrikaans pronunciation: [brɛɪtən brɛɪtənbaχ]; born 16 September 1939) is a South African writer, poet, and painter who became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of the National Party-led South African Government. Breytenbach is now informally considered by Afrikaans-speakers as their poet laureate and is one of the most important living poets in Afrikaans literature. He also holds French citizenship.