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Diana Ferrus
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Diana Ferrus (29 August 1953 – 30 January 2026) was a South African writer and storyteller of mixed Khoisan and slave ancestry. Her work was published in Afrikaans and English. Ferrus led writing workshops in Cape Town whilst working as an administrator at the University of the Western Cape.[1]
Key Information
Ferrus is best known for her poem about Sarah Baartman, a South African woman taken to Europe under false pretenses and paraded as a curiosity.[2] She wrote the poem in 1998 while studying at Utrecht University.[3][4] The popularity of this poem is widely believed to be responsible for the return of Baartman's remains to South Africa.[5] The poem was published into a French law.[6]
She was a founder of the Afrikaans Skrywersvereniging (ASV), Bush Poets, and Women in Xchains.[7] Ferrus had a publishing company called Diana Ferrus Publishers and co-edited and published a collection of stories about fathers and daughters.[4]
Ferrus died on 30 January 2026, at the age of 72.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Diana Ferrus". Who's Who SA. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ Davie, Lucille (14 May 2012). "Sarah Baartman, at rest at last". SouthAfrica.info.
- ^ "An Ode to the Woman They Called The Hottentot Venus | A Poem For Sarah Baartman | Friday, October 5, 2007". The New Black Magazine. 13 January 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ a b Atwater, Deborah F. (2009). African American Women's Rhetoric: The Search for Dignity, Personhood, and Honor. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-7391-3199-2.
- ^ Maclennan, Ben (10 January 2005). "SA ready to take on marine poachers". IOL News.
- ^ Buikema, Rosemarie (2009). "The arena of imaginings: Sarah Baartman and the ethics of representation". Doing Gender in Media, Art and Culture. London: Routledge. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-203-87680-0.
- ^ "Diana Ferrus". Badilisha Poetry. Archived from the original on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ Jacobs, Yasmine (30 January 2026). "Iconic poet and advocate for justice Dr Diana Ferrus dies at 72". IOL. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
External links
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