Die swart Afrikaanse vroueskrywer (1995-2007): nog steeds ’n literêre minderheid binne ’n demokratiese bestel?

Abstract

During the last decade of the twentieth century, two novels by black Afrikaans women writers, Frieda Gygenaar and E K M Dido, were published by mainstream publishers. Since then, the position of black women writers within the Afrikaans literary system has improved significantly. This article investigates the literary production of black Afrikaans women writers over the last twelve years, providing a quantitive and descriptive overview of their literary output. It also discusses the important challenges facing contemporary black Afrikaans women writers: limitations in terms of thematic variety and multidimensional perspectives as well as the lack of literary role-models, a tradition and canonical status. Finally, certain conclusions are drawn about the current and future literary status of black Afrikaans women writers.