Dennis Brutus Has Died

PHOTO SHOWS ACTIVIST AND POET, PROFESSOR DENNIS BRUTUS.

Los Angeles (THEWILL) - South African poet, activist and former political prisoner Professor Dennis Brutus has died on Monday in his sleep at his Cape Town home according to Brutus' publisher, Chicago-based Haymarket Books.

Brutus was born in 1924 in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, to South African teachers who moved back to their native country when he was still a boy.

As anti-apartheid activist he was imprisoned at Robben Island with former South African President Nelson Mandela in the 60s.

Some of his works include, Prayer, Knuckles, Sirens, Boots, Sequence for South Africa and A Simple Lust.

Brutus in recognition of his works has received numerous honorary prizes, including a lifetime achievement award from South Africa's Department of Arts and Culture.

He rejected an induction into the South Africa Sports Hall of Fame, stating, "It is incompatible to have those who championed racist sport alongside its genuine victims. It's time -- indeed long past time -- for sports truth, apologies and reconciliation."

He is survived by a wife, May, eight children, nine grand children and four great grand children.

He died at 85.

Written with agency reports