Helen Nontando Jabavu, author and periodical editor in London, is born in Middeldrift, SA

Helen Nontando (Noni) Jabavu was born in 1919 in the Eastern Cape into a literary family. From the age of thirteen, she was schooled in England, and continued to live there for many years. She went on to become one of the first African female writers and journalists. The Ochre People is one of her two autobiographical works; the other is Drawn in Colour (1960). Both were written early in her literary career and have been hailed by critics as being brilliant and fascinating.  The works indicate that she preferred positioning herself as being simultaneously an African and a European, tracing her origins in both England and South Africa. In her books she looked at the alienation she felt, issues of identity and the impact of the West on Africa. Jabavu died on 19 June 2008 at the age of 88.