Peter Abrahams who was famous in many countries for his 1946 book Mine Boy has passed away. The South African born author was 97.
Abrahams was a South African-born Jamaican novelist, journalist and political commentator. In Kenya at least, he was a legend for his third novel Mine Boy. Set in South Africa, the novel explores the stereotypes and institutions that discriminate against working class black Africans. The plot follows a black miner, Xuma, as he goes through a number of struggles, including introduced disease from Europeans as well as political and social trauma.
He didn’t just write this one novel of course. South Africans with the title “author” on their resume don’t roll like that. He had a serious body of works that included Dark Testament (1942), Song of the City (1945), Mine Boy (1946), The Path of Thunder (1948), Wild Conquest (1950), Return to Goli (1953), Tell Freedom (1954), A Wreath for Udomo (1956), A Night of Their Own (1965), This Island Now (1966), and The View from Coyaba (1985). He also wrote his autobiography The Black Experience in the 20th Century: An Autobiography and Meditation in 2000.
Abrahams was found dead at his home in Saint Andrew Parish Jamaica on 18 January 2017.
May his soul Rest in Peace.
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