Agnes Sam Explained

Birth Place:	Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Nationality:	South African
Alma Mater:	National University of Lesotho
Occupation:	Writer

Agnes Sam (born 1942) is a South African writer.^[1]

Life

As a child of nine, Agnes Sam's great-grandfather had been "shanghaied" into indentureship and brought to Durban, South Africa, in 1860 on the Lord George Bentinck II. Sam was thus born into an Indian family in Port Elizabeth, and grew up there, near the family business.^[2] She was educated at a Roman Catholic school in Port Elizabeth.^[2] There the Indian experience was never mentioned in history lessons:^[3] Sam went on to study Zoology and Psychology at the National University of Lesotho, and trained as a teacher in Zimbabwe.^[4] After briefly teaching science in Zambia, she went into exile in 1973 in England, bringing up three children there while also attempting to take a further degree.^[5]

Most of the stories in Sam's 1989 debut collection, Jesus is Indian, are set in Port Elizabeth.^{[2] [6]} She returned to South Africa in 1993.^[2]

Her debut novel, The Pragashini–Smuts Affair, was published in 2009,^[7] and was described as "a powerful account of politics, segregation and love across the racial divide".^[8] Its sequel in 2014 was The Pragashini–Smuts Conspiracy.^[9]

Works

• "South Africa: Guest of Honour Amongst the Uninvited Newcomers to England's Great Tradition". Kunapipi, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1985), pp. 92–96.
• Jesus Is Indian and Other Stories. England: Women's Press, 1989.
• The Pragashini–Smuts Affair. York: Paloma Books, 2009.
• The Pragashini–Smuts Conspiracy. York: Paloma Books, 2014.
• Dora: a screenplay. York: Paloma Books, 2014.

Further reading

• Flockemann. Miki. Asian Diasporas, Contending Identities and New Configurations: Stories by Agnes Sam and Olive Senior. English in Africa. 25. 1. 1998. 71–86.

External links

• Writing from the Edge: Official website of Agnes Sam
• Agnes Sam YouTube channel.

Notes and References

1. Book: Gareth Cornwell. Dirk Klopper. Craig Mackenzie. The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945. 2010. Columbia University Press. 978-0-231-50381-5. 172–3. Sam, Agnes.
2. Book: Jeanette Eve. A Literary Guide to the Eastern Cape: Places and the Voices of Writers. 2003. Juta and Company Ltd. 978-1-919930-15-2. 88.
3. Book: Jaspal Kaur Singh. Representation and Resistance: South Asian and African Women's Texts at Home and in the Diaspora. 2008. University of Calgary Press. 978-1-55238-245-5. 135–. Globalism and Transnationalism: Cultural Politics in the Texts of Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha, Agnes Sam, and Farida Karodia.
4. Book: Lauretta G. Ngcobo. Lauretta Ngcobo. Let it be Told: Essays by Black Women in Britain. 1987. Pluto Press. 978-0-7453-0254-6. 71–.
5. Book: Margaret J. Daymond. Dorothy Driver. Sheila Meintjes. Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region. 2003. Feminist Press at CUNY. 978-1-55861-407-9. 402.
6. Web site: Jesus is Indian by Agnes Sam. YouTube. 28 December 2014. 16 August 2024.
7. Web site: The Pragashini-Smuts Affair by Agnes Sam. YouTube. 26 April 2014. 16 August 2024.
8. Web site: The Pragashini-Smuts Affair by Agnes Sam is published by Paloma Books. York Press. Stephen. Lewis. 26 November 2011. 16 August 2024.
9. Web site: The Pragashini-Smuts Conspiracy by Agnes Sam. YouTube. 14 July 2014. 16 August 2024.