Elisabeth Eybers

Who was Elisabeth Eybers?

Elisabeth Françoise Eybers was a South African poet. Her poetry was mainly in Afrikaans, although she has translated some of her own work into English.

Eybers was born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal. She grew up in the town of Schweizer-Reneke, where her father was a Nederduits-Hervormde minister. After completing her high school studies there at the age of 16, she enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand for a Bachelor of Arts degree, which she achieved cum laude.

After her graduation she became a journalist. In 1937 Eybers married the businessman Albert Wessels, with whom she had three daughters and a son. Counted among the so-called Dertigers, she became the first Afrikaans woman to win the Hertzog Prize for poetry in 1934. She won the prize again in 1971.

Her work has received many other awards in both South Africa and the Netherlands, including the Constantijn Huygens Prize in 1978 and the P. C. Hooft Award in 1991.

Eybers' first collection of poems, Belydenis in die Skemering, was published in 1936. Her second collection, Die Stil Avontuur, was published in 1939 and was mainly about being a mother.