In a 2020 tribute article published in the Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, Hein Willemse, Professor of Afrikaans literature and literary theory at the University of Pretoria praised the diverse ways in which Achmat skilfully explored and portrayed what were often the “torturous” histories of South Africa:

“Most of his writings exhibit traces of various strands of hybridity often recalling our torturous South African histories, whether these are the squalid surroundings of Hillbrow where in Z-town trilogy (1990) Muriel and Janey Meraai are coming to grips with their personal states of emergency, the mythical and fantastical in the act of storytelling and the transformational in the key characters in Kafka’s Curse (1998), the long memories of past horrors in Bitter Fruit (2001) and in his last published novel, Dikeledi (2017). In most of his longer prose Dangor explores the lives of women, their positionality within South African patriarchy, their continuing relationships with power and frequently their resilience in the face of social challenges. In his latest writings one gets the impression that Dangor increasingly experienced a sense of disillusionment with the post-1994 South Africa, although much of this awareness is filtered through the experiences and tales of his prose characters.”

Literary scholar Prof Ronit Frenkel similarly drew attention to the complexity of Achmat’s work in her memorial piece published in The Conversation. In talking about how Achmat “filtered”, his own “awareness” of “post-1994 South “Africa” through his characters, Prof Frenkel commends Achmat’s subtlety and his “move away” from simplistic dichotomies:

“both the form and the content of his novels highlight the ambiguous character of identity and history. They offer a complex and nuanced alternative to dominant understandings of South Africa, ones that moved away from a logic of black and white, good and bad, past and present, and into a textured and intricate conception of the country’s culture.”

Learn more about Achmat’s writing by exploring the Achmat Dangor Papers, housed at Historical Papers Research Archives at the University of the Witwatersrand; and materials such as Achmat’s novels, poetry, short stories and articles; interviews with Achmat conducted by journalists and literary scholars; and interpretations of Achmat’s writing as noted in the provisional list of resources to follow.

Poetry
Bulldozer (1983)
Exiles Within (1986)
Private Voices (1992)
Play
Majiet: A Play (1986)
Short Stories
Waiting for Leila (1981)
Strange Pilgrimages (2013)
Kafka’s Curse A Novella and Three Other Short Stories (1997)
Novels
The Z Town Trilogy (1990)
Kafka’s Curse (1999)
Bitter Fruit (2001)
Dikeledi: Child of Tears, No More, (2017)

Untitled poem by Achmat published in Izwi vol.1 no.3, April 1st, 1972. Izwi / Special Collections, University of Johannesburg

“Swansong”, “An Exiles Letter Home” and “Die Patrioot” in Staffrider, Vol 2, No 3, July / August 1979, https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/stv2n379.pdf 

“Piety” in Staffrider Vol.3 No.4 Dec-Jan 1980, https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/stv3n480.pdf 

“Jobman” published in Staffrider, Volume 4, No 1, April/May 1981, https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/stv4n181.pdf and Jobman was made into a feature film by Darrell Roodt (1989)

Voices from Within: Black Poetry from Southern Africa introduced and edited by Michael Chapman and Achmat Dangor published by Ad. Donker in Johannesburg in 1982.

Stephen Gray, Modern South African Poetry (1984)

Exiles Within: 7 South African Poets, (1986) Poets include Achmat Dangor, Mafika Gwala, Essop Patel, Don Mattera, James Matthews and Gladys Thomas.

“Jobman” in Staffrider Vol Vol.7 No.3 and No.4, 1988, https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/stv7n388.pdf 

“Places of Stone” in The End of a Regime – An Anthology: Scottish-South African Writing Against Apartheid edited by Brian Filling and Susan Stuart with a foreword by Emeka Anyaoko, Commonwealth Secretary-General, Aberdeen University Press, 1991

“Mama and Kid Freedom”, Index on Censorship, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/03064229508535957

“Private Voices – Birthdays and Transitions” in Hettie Scholtz (ed) 40 is g’n Vloekwoord (40 is no swear word), Queillerie, 1999

“Bitter Fruit” in Andries Olifant (ed), Rendezvous of Victory & Other Stories, Kwela Books, 1999

“Lost” in Swedish as “Verloeren” in Judith Uijterlinde’s anthology Crossing Border: Wereldliteratuur uit binnen- en buitenland illustrated by Sieb Posthuma, Gennep van Novib, 1999

“Afrika min borjan afrika mitt slut” (“Africa my beginning Africa my end”) in Emergencia in 2000, BildMuseet, Umeå.

“Veneriske sygdomme” (venereal disease) in Chris van Wyk, ed, Opbrud, AKS/Hjulet, 2000.

“Skin Costs Extra” in Nobantu Rasebotsa, Meg Samuelson and Kylie Thomas (eds), Nobody Ever Said AIDS: Stories and Poems from Southern Africa, Kwela Books, 2004

Achmat Dangor, “A Reason to Love” in Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, Vol. 41 No. 1, 2004, https://letterkunde.africa/issue/view/465 

Achmat Dangor, “Report on a Workshop on the ‘Cultural Boycott’ as an Act of Censorship or a Tool of Liberation” (hosted by the Congress of South African Writers on 14 May 1988), in Staffrider, Vol 7, No 2, 1988, pp. 90-91, https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/stv7n288.pdf 

Achmat Dangor, “Introduction” in Back to the Land with text by Marlene Winberg, photographs by Paul Weinberg, The Porcupine Press in 1996.

Achmat Dangor, “9/11” On the Set of “USA Under Attack” – An American Epic, 12 September 2001 https://www.slideshare.net/achmatdangor/sept-11-recalled-52752506 

Achmat Dangor, “History. We all have our stories”, presented at “Africa and the World: Writers at Home and Away”, New York University, New York City, April 2005 and posted on November 20, 2007, https://pen.org/africa-and-the-world-writers-at-home-and-away-2/ 

Achmat Dangor, “Madiba’s Social Justice Crusade”, City Press, 7 November 2019, https://www.news24.com/citypress/voices/madibas-social-justice-crusade-20191101

AP Archive, Mandela foundation takes more serious diplomatic tone, 18 July 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8BASKSOdDY 

Achmat reading an extract from his book Bitter Fruit at the PEN America’s Africa and The World: Writers At home And Away, November 2007, https://soundcloud.com/search?q=pen%20america%20achmat%20dangor

Achmat Dangor, Keynote address: “Literature and revolt”, Casa África, 2010, https://www.casafrica.es/en/mediateca/video/3-intervencion-de-achmat-dangor-escritor-y-presidente-de-la-fundacion-nelson-mandela

Sports for Peace, Achmat Dangor at Sports for Peace Gala: Bring All Children to School by 2015, 18 June 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk-SkWeVzD4 

Google releases online Nelson Mandela Digital Archive – Johannesburg Mar 27, 2012, Video by Jordi Matas, http://www.demotix.com/users/jordimatas and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_K3S0qFTl8 

Google Africa The Nelson Mandela Digital Archive Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqNI5uCuZHk 

46664 clothing launch press conference, Mar 28, 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9sQPxcKn6k 

Bikers for Mandela Ahead of Nelson Mandela Day on July 18, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYtKuONmF7U&t=19s 

SABC News, “Unusual and illuminating take on the struggle years: Achmat Dangor (Strange Pilgrimages’)”, 28 May 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ekYqO83PnYc 

Polity SA, Strange Pilgrimages, 27 June 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnwGVzOZwjQ

Achmat Dangor, “Creative Fiction and Social Sciences”, 23 July 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JUgwYEQ2xg 

SABC News, “Poet and novelist, Achmat Dangor on his book titled Dikeledi”, 5 November 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ed_QEZGR9g

SABC, “Interview Strange Pilgrimages Morning Live with Leanne Manus”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekYqO83PnYc&t=11s 

Johannesburg Review of Books, “Remembering Achmat Dangor: An Extraordinary Literary Life”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGssgSn79L4&t=801s 

Nelson Mandela Foundation, “Remembering Achmat Dangor: An Extraordinary Life”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FgWsVaq2mI&t=820s 

Condolences Achmat Dangor SABC News  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_7cPS_52zU&t=21s; ENCA news https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXyLYEgXWH8; Newsroom Africa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfJvBP-jA0g and also includes interview with Sello 

Yvette Christiansë, “Power struggles: Tsitsi Dangarembga & Achmat Dangor”, interview published on PEN America’s website and dated April 3, 2007, https://pen.org/power-struggles-tsitsi-dangarembga-achmat-dangor/

Jansie Kotze and Ruth Harris, interview with Achmat Dangor, undated, https://oulitnet.co.za/nosecret/achmat.asp 

Jean Meiring, “Tasting the sweet fruit of literary success”, LitNet, October 2004. Reshared under the title “Achmat Dangor: from LitNet’s archive, 7 September 2020, https://www.litnet.co.za/achmat-dangor-from-litnets-archives/ 

Andries Olifant, “Achmat Dangor: On writing and change” in Mail & Guardian, 12 September 2020, https://mg.co.za/friday/2020-09-12-achmat-dangor-on-writing-and-change-2/ 

Elaine Young, Interview with Achmat Dangor, Kunapipi, 24(1), 2002, https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1992&context=kunapipi 

Southern Africa Report, Literature Beyond the Platitudes: An Interview with Achmat Dangor in Southern Africa Report, Vol. 4 No. 1, July 1988, https://africanactivist.msu.edu/recordFiles/210-849-24343/sar0401.pdf

“HIV / AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Two Decades and Counting” in Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (ACAS) Bulletin, No 74, Summer 2006, https://africanactivist.msu.edu/recordFiles/210-849-23508/ACASBulletinSummer06opt.pdf 

1979
Awarded the Mofolo-Plomer Prize

1990
Awarded the BBC Prize for African Poetry

1993
Life Vita Short Story Award

1998
Awarded the Herman Charles Bosman Prize for Kafka’s Curse

2003
Short-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Bitter Fruit 

2004
Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize for Bitter Fruit

2015
Awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature by the South African Literary Awards (SALA)

Aghogho Akpome, “Ominous Inevitabilities: Reflecting on South Africa’s Post-Transition Aporia in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in Africa Spectrum, Volume 48, Issue 2, August 2013, pp. 3-24, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/000203971304800201 

Aghogho Akpome, University of the Free State, “Human beings are far more layered than you see’ – on complexity, identities and otherness in the creative writing of Achmat Dangor” in Africa Insight, Vol 44, No 1, published Online:1 Jun 2014, https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.10520/EJC161957 

Aghogho Akpome, “Multiple twilights: narrating transition in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in English in Africa, Vol 44, No 3, 2017, https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-acf85220e

Vipasha Bhardwaj, “Lydia’s silence: Representation of trauma from an ex-centric position in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in transcript: An e-Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, Vol. 1, Issue No. 2, July-Dec 2021, pp. 83-99, https://thetranscript.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/005.pdf 

Andy Carolin, Winnie Mandela: Homophobia and Dystopia in One of Achmat Dangor’s Forgotten Short Stories in English Academy Review, 37(1), 2020, pp. 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/10131752.2020.1741193

10. Concilio, C. Kafka’s Verwandlungen in: Assmann, DC. (eds) Narrative der Deponie. Kulturelle Figurationen: Artefakte, Praktiken, Fiktionen, Springer VS, Wiesbaden, 2020, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-27880-9_11

Salvador Faura, “The Madman in the Garden Or, Achmat Dangor’s Search for the Common Literary Origins of the Distinct Muslim Communities of South Africa in Kafka’s Curse (1997)” in Relations and Networks in South African Indian Writing pp. 75–87, https://brill.com/display/book/9789004365032/BP000005.xml 

Roger Field, “Coming Home, Coming Out: Achmat Dangor’s Journeys Through Myth and Constantin Cavafy” in English Studies in Africa, 54(2), 2011, 103–117, https://doi.org/10.1080/00138398.2011.626190 to download visit https://repository.uwc.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10566/521/Field_Constantin%20Cavafy_2011.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y 

Ronit Frenkel, “Performing Race, Reconsidering History: Achmat Dangor’s Recent Fiction” in Research in African Literatures, Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring, 2008, Indiana University Press, pp. 149-165, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20109564 

Ronit, Frenkel, “The politics of loss: Post-colonial pathos and current Booker Prize-nominated texts from India and South Africa”, in Scrutiny2, 13(2), 2008, pp. 77–88, https://doi.org/10.1080/18125440802486043 

Ronit Frenkel, “Reconsidering South African Indian Fiction Post apartheid” in Research in African Literatures Vol. 42, No. 3, Asian African Literatures / Gaurav Desai, Special Guest Editor, Fall, Indiana University Press, 2011, pp. 1-16 

Ronit Frenkel, “Remembering Achmat Dangor, the South African novelist who redefined identity”, The Conversation, September 16, 2020, https://theconversation.com/remembering-achmat-dangor-the-south-african-novelist-who-redefined-identity-146088

Ronit Frenkel & Craig MacKenzie, “Conceptualizing ‘Posttransitional’ South African Literature in English”, in English Studies in Africa, 53:1, 2010, pp. 1-10, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00138398.2010.488331 

Gillian Gane, “The Violated Woman as Emblem of the Nation in J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, Zoe Wicomb’s David’s Story, and Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in Proceedings of the Faculty of Arts, 2^nd Conference, University of Zululand, 2007, https://www.academia.edu/download/21668375/faculty_of_arts_conference_proceedings_2007_final.pdf#page=17 

Sorcha Gunne, “Questioning Truth and Reconciliation Writing Rape in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit and Kagiso Lesego Molope’s Dancing in the Dust” in Feminism, Literature and Rape Narratives, Routledge, 2009, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203479735-14/questioning-truth-reconciliation-sorcha-gunne 

Shane Graham, “Remembering to Forget: Monumental vs. Peripatetic Archiving in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in Safundi, 9(1), 2008, pp. 39–52 https://doi.org/10.1080/17533170701762958

Tina Harpin, “La violence et la culpabilité en partage : le destin national du thème de l’inceste dans la fiction sud-africaine” in L’Afrique du Sud et la littérature post-apartheid (1994-2014), Number 38, 2014, pp. 7-231, https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/ela/2014-n38-ela01707/1028671ar/ 

Ute Kauer, “Nation and gender: Female identity in contemporary South African writing” in Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 15(2), 2003, pp. 106–116, https://doi.org/10.1080/1013929X.2003.9678162

Jack Kearney, “Representations of Islamic belief and practice in a South African context: reflections on the fictional work of Ahmed Essop, Aziz Hassim, Achmat Dangor and Rayda Jacobs”, in Journal of Literary Studies, Vol 22, No 1 and 2, 2006, https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.10520/EJC62403

Loren Kruger, “Black Atlantics, White Indians, and Jews: Locations, Locutions, and Syncretic Identities in the Fiction of Achmat Dangor and Others” in The South Atlantic Quarterly, Duke University Press, Volume 100, Number 1, Winter 2001, pp. 111-143, https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/30696/summary

Madeleine Laurencin, “A Polychromatic Approach to the Rainbow Nation Today: Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor, “Nietverloren” and Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee” in Commonwealth Essays and Studies, 34.2 | 2012, Reappraisals, https://journals.openedition.org/ces/5488 

Diana Adesola Mafe, “Tragic to Magic?: Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in Mixed Race Stereotypes in South African and American Literature, January 2013, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304857032_Tragic_to_Magic_Achmat_Dangor’s_Bitter_Fruit 

Frank Meintjies, “Achmat Dangor’s Fiction: Characters and Stories from Times of Dislocation”, June 2023, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank-Meintjies/publication/371365412_Achmat_Dangor’s_Fiction_Characters_and_Stories_from_Times_of_Dislocation/links/64f0553567890027e170a480/Achmat-Dangors-Fiction-Characters-and-Stories-from-Times-of-Dislocation.pdf 

Ana Miller, “The Past in the Present: Personal and Collective Trauma in Achmat Dangor’s ‘Bitter Fruit’, in Studies in the Novel, Vol. 40, No. 1/2, postcolonial trauma novels (spring & summer 2008), pp. 146-160. Published By: The Johns Hopkins University Press, https://www.jstor.org/stable/29533864 

Francesca Mussi, “Revising the TRC’s Concept of Forgiveness in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in in Forgiveness or Revenge? Restitution or Retribution?, 2015, pp. 77–85, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848883581_009 

Francesca Mussi, “Literary Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Concept of Forgiveness” in Perspectives on Forgiveness: Contrasting Approaches to Concepts of Forgiveness and Revenge, Brill Print Publication, 2018, pp. 163–179, https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004360143/B9789004360143-s010.xml 

Divya A. Nathwani and Vidya Rao, “Indian African Fiction: Apartheid and Beyond” in Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL), Vol 9, S1, 2021, http://www.rjelal.com/9.S1.21/269-272%20Divya%20A.%20Nathwani.pdf 

Stanley Ordu and Mary Ayuba, African Literature and Homosexuality In Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit in Dutsin-Ma Journal of English and Literature, Vol 6, No 2, 2022, http://journal.fudutsinma.edu.ng/index.php/DUJEL/article/view/107/103 

Sarah Pett, “(Re)writing the black feminist text: a comparative study of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Achmat Dangor’s The Z Town trilogy” in Scrutiny2, 12(2), 2007, pp. 96–106, https://doi.org/10.1080/18125440701752016

Dobrota Pucherova, “Re-Imagining the Other: The Politics of Friendship in Three Twenty-First Century South African Novels in Journal of Southern African Studies, 35(4), 2009, pp. 929–943. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070903314218 

Keshab Bahadur Pun, “Traumatic Experience of Lydia and Her Family Members in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit”, Masters Dissertation, Department of English, Tribhuvan University, 2015, chapter one available for download https://elibrary.tucl.edu.np/bitstream/123456789/16359/2/chapter%20page.pdf

Henriette Roos, “Torn between Islam and the other: South African novelists on cross-cultural relationships” in Conference proceedings, Published Online:1 Jun 2005, https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC62388

Devi Sarinjeive, “Transgressions / Transitions in three post-1994 South African texts : Pamela Jooste’s Dance With a Poor Man’s Daughter, Bridget Pitt’s Unbroken Wing and Achmat Dangor’s Kafka’s Curse”, Journal of Literary Studies, Vol 18, No 3-4, Published Online:1 Dec 2002, https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC62340

Tina Steiner, “The Indian Ocean travels of Sheikh Yusuf and Imam Ali Ali: literary representations in Ishtiyaq Shukri’s The Silent Minaret and Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit”, Social Dynamics, 38(2), 2012, pp. 172–183, https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2012.717208

Helene Strauss, University of Western Ontario, “Intrusive Pasts, Intrusive Bodies: Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit”, in Postcolonial Text, Vol 1, No 2, 2005, https://www.postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/article/view/436/836 

Helene Strauss, “Listening Otherwise: The Semiotics of the Voice in Achmat Dangor’s Bitter Fruit” in Wasafiri, 23(1), 2008, pp. 51–56, https://doi.org/10.1080/02690050701778165 

Louise Viljoen, “Displacement in the literary texts of black Afrikaans writers in South Africa” in Journal of Literary Studies, 21:1-2, 93-118 

Hein Willemse, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, vol.57, n.2, Pretoria, 2020, https://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S0041-476X2020000200011&script=sci_arttext

Jane Wilkinson, “Majnoen-Leila and “Kafka’s Curse”: Metamorphic Crossing in South Africa”, Fabrizio Serra Editore part of Fictions: II, 2003, https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/2235863 

Corey Carter Wilson, “Dis/entwining Bodies: Magical Realism, Corporeality, and Reconciliation in Achmat Dangor’s Short Fiction”, Scripps Senior Theses, 2019, https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1307 

Wendy Woodward, “Beyond fixed geographies of the self-counterhegemonic selves and symbolic spaces in Achmat Dangor’s “Kafka’s Curse” and Anne Landsman’s the devil’s chimney” in Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 2000, 12(2), 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/1013929X.2000.9678082 

Elaine Young, “Cursing and celebrating metamorphosis: Achmat Dangor’s “Kafka’s curse” in Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 12(1), 2000, pp. 17–30, https://doi.org/10.1080/1013929X.2000.9678072 

Juan Miguel Zarandona, “The Translation of Diasporic African Indian Autobiographical Voices into the Languages of Spain Achmat Dangor (1948–2020) and Moyez G. Vassanji (1950–)” in African Perspectives on Literary Translation, Routledge, 2021, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003001997-9/translation-diasporic-african-indian-autobiographical-voices-languages-spain-juan-miguel-zarandona 

Juan Miguel Zarandona, Universidad de Valladolid (Soria), “Achmat Dangor (1948-2020) and M.G. Vassanji (1950-): the Reception of Two Afrindian Voices in Spain”, in Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 82; April 2021, pp. 123-141; https://riull.ull.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/915/22463/RCEI_%2082_%20%282021%29_09.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y