South Africa the first well known novels written by a black author in an African language was Solomon Thekiso Plaatje's "Mhudi", written in 1930. During the 1950s, "Drum" magazine became a hotbed of political satire, fiction, and essays, giving a voice to urban black culture. Notable white South African authors include Alan Paton, who published the novel "Cry, the Beloved Country" in 1948. Nadine Gordimer became the first South African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1991. JM Coetzee won the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 2003. When awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy stated that Coetzee "in innumerable
Cry, the Beloved Country mountains to await the appointed time in solitude. On the way, he encounters Jarvis, and the two men speak of the village, of lost sons, and of Jarvis's bright young grandson, whose innocence and honesty have impressed both men. When Kumalo is alone, he weeps for his son’s death and clasps his hands in prayer as dawn breaks over the valley. "Cry, the Beloved Country" is a social protest against the structures of the society that would later give rise to apartheid. Paton attempts to create an unbiased and objective view of the dichotomies it entails: he depicts whites as