MAVERICK WRITERS, literary mentors & friendships: a memoir

260pp., illus., paperback, Self-published, Johannesburg, 2026

ISBN: 9781997496670

Foreword by Ian Steadman.

In his literary memoir Anthony Akerman's discusses his own career as a playwright and director and his relationships with prominent South African writers and cultural activists, including Athol Fugard, Breyten Breytenbach, Roy Campbell, André Brink and Vernon February.

"A celebration of South Africa's rich literary history told through the author's fascinating life story ... a funny, sincere and touching re-introduction to theatre and literary legends such as Athol Fugard, André Brink and Breyten Breytenbach through personal stories of friendship and cultural activism. The tale of Akerman and his fellow Maverick Writers is also the story of anti-apartheid resistance that came at great personal cost, and of the remarkable body of literature and theatre that emerged from that struggle," Zanele Mji

"Anthony Akerman entertains and informs as engagingly on the page as around the dinner table. In this kaleidoscope of a memoir, he retraces his own path as a playwright and stage director through his friendships with writers and theatre people, at home and abroad in the apartheid years and after ... all you could ask of a literary memoir" Ivan Vladislavić

Anthony Akerman was born in Durban in 1949. After studying English and Drama at Rhodes University, he trained as a director at the Old Vic Theatre School on Bristol. In 1975, he moved to Amsterdam, and remained there in exile until 1992. His plays include Somewhere on the Border (Thomas Pringle Award), A Man Out of the Country, Dark Outsider (Ernst van Heerden Creative Writing Award) Old Boys (Vita Best Script Award) and Leading Ladies (Writers Guild of South Africa's Muse Award for Best Stage Play). His adoption memoir, Lucky Bastard, was published in 2024.