2010 Protea Series 1/10 Gold Coin - Nadine Gordimer

2010 Protea Series
Nadine Gordimer - 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature

The 2010 Protea Series depicts Nadine Gordimer who is a South African writer, political activist and Nobel laureate. 

Nadine Gordimer was born on 20 November 1923 in Springs, a mining town outside Johannesburg. Her early interest in racial and  economic inequality in South Africa was shaped in part by her parents’ own experiences.

She began writing stories at the age of nine and her first stories were published in 1937 when she was fifteen! Her first adult fiction was published when she was sixteen and she received her first major award in 1961. Literary recognition for her accomplishments pinnacled with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, which noted that “through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity”.

Nadine Gordimer’s writing has long dealt with moral and racial issues. She was active in the anti-apartheid movement and she was one of the first people Mr Nelson Mandela wanted to see after his release from prison in 1990! Always questioning power relations and truth, Nadine Gordimer weaves her stories of ordinary people to reveal moral ambiguities and choices. Her quest continues even today, being active in the HIV/AIDS movement which has become a significant public health focus area in South Africa.

The R5 (1/10th oz) depicts an image of Nadine Gordimer as she appears presently, together with another quote “Truth isn’t always beauty, but the hunger for it is”.