Leon Strachan
Leon is one of Harrismith’s best-known authors. His books include Blafboom, Blinkoog, Botterbek, and Bergburgers – tales of Harrismith and surround characters. Krygers en Skietpiete tells the history of the Harrismith Commando, and Krygers en Guerrillas gives us an insight into Harrismith people’s experiences during the Anglo-Boer War.
Unfortunately, Leon won’t be with us on the day, but we’ll have many of his books on display.
Johann Lodewyk Marais
Historian, literary scholar and author. For almost four decades, Johann was a researcher and middle-level manager in the public sector. His research focused on training in creative writing, social issues such as poverty, survival strategies, local knowledge and cross-border migration, and environmental issues in rural areas. He is currently a research fellow of the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria.
Johann made his début in 1983 as a poet, with his début collection, Die somer is ’n dag oud, for which he was awarded the 1985 Ingrid Jonker Prize. He is especially well-known as an eco-poet. In 2012, he received the South African Literature Award for Poetry for his 8th collection, Diorama, published in 2010.
Sirkelgang (2023) is his 14th collection of poetry and appears 40 years after his début.
He published two historical books on Harrismith and environs and travel books on Mozambique and Kenya, apart from several scientific and popular articles.
Costa André Georghiou
Published his first anthology, Oblivium in 2018. (Costa’s biography can be seen under musicians.)
Pete (Koos) Swanepoel
Has written at least one book – The Umko, which tells of the 50 year history of the Umkomaas River Canoe Marathon, and can be downloaded here.
He’s also contributed to many others, and helped various friends to record their stories.
Pete regularly blogs at Vrystaat Confessions and Bewilderbeast.
Harry Loots
Harry took his first steps up a mountain in Harrismith. 60 years later he stood on top of Kilimanjaro, after having climbed several of Africa’s highest mountains. He has lived and worked and climbed in South Africa, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, and Switzerland.
He currently lives in Zürich in Switzerland with his girlfriend, Barbara. They spend weekends and holidays in the mountains, when he’s not leading or guiding groups in wild places. His recent book, From Platberg to Kilimanjaro, tells the story of his adventures climbing Africa’s highest mountains. He is currently working on re-publishing an earlier book, as well as two further books – one telling tales of his travels and the people he met along the line.
Malcolm Drummond
Malcolm grew up on a farm in England where he developed a life-lasting passion for nature. After immigrating to South Africa in 1968, he visited the Kruger National Park, which led to his becoming a part-time Wilderness Leadership trails officer. In 1992, Malcolm and Deon Coetzee created Middelpunt Wetland Trust to conserve the critically endangered white-winged flufftail and its habitat.
In 1998, a new habitat, the Bedford Chatsworth Wetland, was discovered near Van Reenen, where Malcolm now lives. To proceed with a pumped storage scheme, including a dam in that wetland, Eskom was obliged to form the Ingula Partnership with BirdLife South Africa and Middelpunt Wetland Trust. Malcolm has been involved from the inception of the partnership which oversees the environmental management of the wetlands.
His Of Watts and Wetlands chronicles the wonderfully successful partnership between a major SOE and two environmental NGOs.
Other contributors
Anika Heymans, Kobus Steenekamp, and Lu Nieuwoudt