Theresa Papenfus
 Theresa Papenfus     (journalist, author, publisher) | |
|---|---|
 Biographer Theresa Papenfus with Pik Botha | |
| Alma mater | Stellenbosch University |
Theresa Papenfus was born in Villiersdorp, Western Cape, South Africa. She is a graduate of Stellenbosch University and started her career as a reporter at Beeld newspaper, Pretoria in 1975. Since 1979 she was a full time mother for her three sons, while writing short stories, essays, sketches and articles for various publications. A volume of essays was published by JL van Schaik publishers in 1980. She did freelance work for various publishers until 1991, when she became head of Fiction and Non-Fiction at JL van Schaik in Pretoria, where she handled the publication and marketing of titles in various genres and received the company's Award for Excellence in 1994.[1]
Publisher
In 2000 she started Litera Publications as her own publishing house. Beside the work of valued authors, Theresa’s biography "Pik Botha and his times" (2010) appeared at Litera in both English and Afrikaans.[2]
Blurb
This biography reads like a novel: exciting, moving and humorous. It is the story of an inspiring politician who wrote verses on the back of cigarette boxes, a minister with the finesse of a battering ram, a peacemaker, and ambassador who never had to take "No" for an answer, and a man who was happiest when sitting next to a campfire in the bush. And it is far more.
Theresa Papenfus depicts Botha against the broader political and social background of his time. This work is also an account of a tempestuous period in South African history. New facts are revealed on events such as the aviation disaster in which Samora Machel was killed. The research covers a formidable range of sources, including personal interviews and correspondence with authoritative and prominent South African and international figures. And then there are Pik Botha's verses, personal documents and the numerous interviews he granted.
Reviews
"Even in the broader literature, no book exists that covers these events together in one volume and certainly not with anything approaching the depth and first-hand insight that Papenfus marshals. "Pik Botha and his times" is precisely the sort of book any writer on Southern African political history will want to have to hand for reference purposes if nothing else." -- Jamie Miller, University of Cambridge
"Valuable. Thorough. Absorbing." Jeanette Ferreira, literary critic, editor and writer....
"An authoritative source of information ... that could never be ignored ... direct, with no mincing of words or empty praise ... a work that attests to intensive research and broad knowledge, sensitive but without sentimentality or obfuscation." Marinus Wiechers, Professor Emeritus of Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law and former principal, Unisa...
"History owes her a favour for writing this book. I enjoyed it immensely." Peter Sullivan, former editor of The Star and Group Editor-in-Chief, Independent Newspapers, South Africa.
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Lucky Escapees from Pan Am Flight 103 | Article | 20 October 2018 | Christopher Nicholson | In this article, Judge Nicholson analyses in forensic detail conflicting claims that former foreign minister Pik Botha had been booked to travel on the doomed Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988. The Judge's analysis concludes by asking whether UN Commissioner for Namibia Bernt Carlsson "was not the real target of those who put the bomb on Pan Am 103." |
