Alan Stewart Paton
is a South African writer and an anti-apartheid activist. His first novel, Cry, The Beloved Country (1948) is a poignant
tale of racial injustice that steered international attention towards this
glaring issue. He started his career as a teacher but quit to run a reformatory
for young African offenders. This is what inspired him to write his first book.

Subsequently, he turned into this prolific writer producing 19 novels between
1948 and 1989. His works include The Land and People of South
Africa (1955), South Africa in Transition, written in
collaboration with Dan Weiner (1956), Hope for South Africa (1959), Debbie
Go Home, a collection of short stories (1961), Jan
Hofmeyr, a biography of Paton’s friend, the former deputy Prime Minister
of South Africa (1965) and Too Late the Phalarope (1953).

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He is also known to be a
serious activist and politician who spoke up against apartheid. Paton’s intent
to contribute socially led him and his wife to open a tuberculosis center near
his hometown. He was perpetually torn between his role as a writer and
activist. Owing to his condemnation of the racial injustice during the
apartheid regime, he was tried for treason in a famous trial in 1960. His contribution
both in the literary and political arena fetched him recognition the world