Bessie Head

Bessie Emery Head (6 July 1937 – 17 April 1986),though born in South Africa, is usually considered Botswana's most influential writer.
Bessie Amelia Head never knew her real parents: an unstable white woman and an unknown black man. She was born and raised in apartheid South Africa. There she suffered from poverty, racial segregation, and gender discrimination. She also had to worry about her own "delicate nervous balance".

As a young woman she left South Africa to come to Botswana. She lived the rest of her life in this country, mostly in Serowe. Bit by bit she overcame her many formidable obstacles. One of her passions was letter-writing; she corresponded with hundreds of people from many countries during her life. At the end she was a famous writer known all around the world.

In September 2010 Penguin Books published Bessie's book When Rain Clouds Gather and Maru and in October 2011 published A Question of Power.