Intimate Stranger

“The greatest Afrikaner poet of this generation. … No one elevated the Boer language to such pure beauty and wielded it so devastatingly against the apartheid regime.”—*The New Yorker*

This eclectic and generous work full of wisdom and wit is addressed to a young writer. Breyten Breytenbach’s candid and provocative reflections on reading and writing guide without guiding, open mental channels, surprise, and inspire. A stirring glimpse into the mind of an artist.

An outspoken human rights activist, **Breyten Breytenbach** is a poet, novelist, playwright, memoirist, and painter. He received the Alan Paton Prize in 1994 and the prestigious Hertzog Prize for his collection of poetry *Windcatcher* in 2008.