Bessie Head
6 July 1937 – 17 April 1986
Bessie Head (1937-1986) was a writer born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, who worked as a teacher and journalist before leaving the country on an exit permit in 1964 and settling in the village of Serowe, Botswana. Her novels, among them When Rain Clouds Gather and A Question of Power, draw on village life, exile and mental distress. She lived as a refugee for fifteen years before being granted Botswana citizenship in 1979.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Bessie Head.
- Adonis (1930–present) Overlapped 49 years →
- Ahmad Shamlou (1925–2000) Overlapped 49 years →
- Akio Morita (1921–1999) Overlapped 49 years →
- Alan Paton (1903–1988) Overlapped 49 years →
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Overlapped 49 years →
- Alice Munro (1931–2024) Overlapped 49 years →
Life events
Born Bessie Amelia Emery and placed with a foster family in early childhood.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMoved from her foster home to St Monica's Home, an Anglican mission school for girls.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWorked as a primary school teacher for several years before leaving the profession.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWrote for Drum Publications titles, including the Golden City Post.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe marriage produced one son, Howard, and ended in separation a few years later.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgTook a teaching post and settled at Serowe, living for years as a refugee without citizenship.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe book drew on her experience of a rural development scheme in Botswana.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgA largely autobiographical novel dealing with exile and mental breakdown.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgReceived citizenship after fifteen years of refugee status.
Source: en.wikipedia.org