Renowned SA poet Breyten Breytenbach dies aged 85

Renowned South African poet, novelist, painter, and activist Breyten Breytenbach has died. Breytenbach passed on earlier today in Paris aged of 85.

His family, in a statement released this afternoon, confirmed the news.

According to the statement, the South African wordsmith passed on “with his wife Yolande by his side”.

[WATCH] Well-known South African poet, author, and painter, Breyten Breytenbach, has died. He was 85 year’s old. The family statement says that he passed away peacefully in Paris, France, this morning with his wife Yolande by his side. pic.twitter.com/0muPGG6Yc2

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Born in 1939 in the Western Cape, Breytenbach, whose work profoundly shaped literature and the arts both locally and abroad, was one of five siblings, all of whom have since passed away. Although he lived abroad for much of his life, he maintained a strong connection to his South African heritage.

During his decades-long career, the Bonnievale-born anti-apartheid activist, boldly tackled themes of exile, identity and justice through some of his acclaimed works like The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist and A Season in Paradise.

Describing him as “a vocal opponent of apartheid” who was arrested in 1975 for his association with the little talked about “Okhela, a separate ideological wing of the ANC in exile,” the family says Breytenbach is survived by his wife, and daughter Daphnée, and two grandsons.

“Interestingly, since Breyten’s 80th birthday, he had been exploring denouement towards death, and expressing his uncomfortable discoveries through his art and writings. In this way he had the courage to give form to the forever formlessness from which we come, and to which we shall surely return,” reads the statement in part.