Bessie Head

Bessie Emery Head, (born July 6, 1937, Pietermaritzburg, S.Af.—died April 17, 1986, Serowe, Botswana), African writer who described the contradictions and shortcomings of pre- and postcolonial African society in morally didactic novels and stories. Head was born of an illegal union between her white mother (who was placed in a mental asylum during her pregnancy) and black father (who then mysteriously disappeared). She suffered rejection and alienation at an early age. After moving from foster parents to an orphanage school to an early marriage, she abandoned her homeland, her teaching job, and her husband and took her small son to Botswana, seeking personal asylum and tranquility in simple village life. (Biography sourced from Encyclopedia Britannica)