SOMEWHERE ON THE BORDER, afterword by Gary Baines

92pp., illus., paperback, First SA Edition, Wits University Press, Johannesburg, (2012)

ISBN: 9781868145607

This play, set during the South Africa Border War, was first published in the UK in 1993 in the anthology, South Africa Plays: New South African drama, edited by Stephen Gray.

Winner of the Thomas Pringle Award.

Preface by Anthony Akerman.

Somewhere on the Border, written in exile, was intercepted in the post and banned by the apartheid censors because the language was considered "offensive" and the portrayal of the South African Armed Forces "prejudicial to the safety of the state".

"Anthony Akerman’s Somewhere on the Border is merciless. In this touching, disturbing and meticulously researched play, each vulgar and bullying witticism reinforces the indoctrinating brutality with which young, susceptible minds were beaten into submission. Each word is like a razor wire pulled across the soul." Leon van Nierop, Artslink

"Since its first staging in the early 80s, Akerman’s play has lost none of its explosive power. Chillingly brutal and grimly humorous all at once, it detonates in the present like a long-dormant mine."  Ivan Vladislavić, author and Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, University of the Witwatersrand

Anthony Akerman went into exile in 1973, lived in Amsterdam, and worked as a playwright and director. He returned to South Africa in 1992 and has since written several plays, including 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). He has also published a memoir, Lucky Bastard (2024).