WRITER

Athol Fugard

1932 - 2025

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Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (; 11 June 1932 – 8 March 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director. Widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright and acclaimed as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world" by Time magazine in 1985, he published more than thirty plays. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apartheid, some of which have been adapted to film. His novel Tsotsi was adapted as a film of the same name, which won an Academy Award in 2005. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Athol Fugard is the 3,914th most popular writer (up from 6,267th in 2019), the 89th most popular biography from South Africa (up from 192nd in 2019) and the 10th most popular South African Writer.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Athol Fugard ranks 3,914 out of 7,302. Before him are Nikola Vaptsarov, Saken Seifullin, Zhou Zuoren, Mika Antić, Friedrich von Bodenstedt, and István Örkény. After him are Apollon Maykov, Fadwa Tuqan, Seán O'Casey, Charles Grandison Finney, Michael Blake, and Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddin.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1932, Athol Fugard ranks 270. Before him are Fritz Klein, Paulinho de Almeida, Tinka Kurti, Loretta Lynn, Mika Antić, and Quentin Blake. After him are Halston, Lyudvig Chibirov, Bill Byrge, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Bruce Glover, and U. R. Ananthamurthy. Among people deceased in 2025, Athol Fugard ranks 175. Before him are Manoj Kumar, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Calistrat Cuțov, Joan Harrison, Clem Burke, and Nina Grebeshkova. After him are Valerie Mahaffey, Bill Byrge, Bruce Glover, John Bryson, Emmanuel Kundé, and Barbie Hsu.

Others Born in 1932

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In South Africa

Among people born in South Africa, Athol Fugard ranks 89 out of 454. Before him are J. L. B. Smith (1897), Walter Sisulu (1912), Alice Krige (1954), Laurens van der Post (1906), Joan Harrison (1935), and J. B. M. Hertzog (1866). After him are Chris Heunis (1927), Trevor Jones (1949), Janet Suzman (1939), Frances Ames (1920), Evelyn Mase (1922), and Lawrence Stevens (1913).

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Among WRITERS In South Africa

Among writers born in South Africa, Athol Fugard ranks 10. Before him are Peter Abrahams (1919), André Brink (1935), Laurence Oliphant (1829), Breyten Breytenbach (1939), Ronald Harwood (1934), and Laurens van der Post (1906). After him are Alan Paton (1903), Deon Meyer (1958), Gcina Mhlophe (1958), Elsa Joubert (1922), Andrew Murray (1828), and Karel Schoeman (1939).

South African born Writers

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