Archie Crail (born 1944 in Paarl, South Africa)[1] is a South African-Canadian writer. He was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 1992 Governor General's Awards for his short story collection The Bonus Deal.[2]
Archie Crail | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1948 Paarl, South Africa |
| Occupation | journalist, short story writer, playwright |
| Nationality | South African-Canadian |
| Period | 1990s |
| Notable works | The Bonus Deal |
A coloured South African of Khoisan descent,[3] Crail was born and raised in Paarl.[1] Educated at the University of South Africa,[4] he was an anti-apartheid activist with the African National Congress,[1] and studied theology under Desmond Tutu.[5] He later spent several years living in South-West Africa, continuing his political activism with SWAPO,[5] and briefly moved to Botswana[1] before moving to Canada in 1980.[3]
Crail and his family settled in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1980.[4] Crail took classes at the University of Regina,[4] including studying creative writing under Ven Begamudré.[5]
His first work, a theatrical play titled Exile, won the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild literary competition in 1989[6] and was produced by Saskatoon's 25th Street Theatre in 1990.[7] A touring production of Exile was later mounted in South Africa.[4]
The Bonus Deal was published by Coteau Books in 1992.[8] Several of the short stories in The Bonus Deal were also dramatized for CBC Radio.[4]
In 1991, after the South African government lifted its ban on exiled African National Congress members returning to South Africa, Crail attended the organization's conference in Durban.[4]