The Centre for Creative Arts is sad to announce the passing of Adriaan Donker who was founding director of the CCA from 1996 through 1998, and remained a consultant for two years thereafter. The establishing of the CCA and his numerous achievements in the literary field are major contributions to the cultural life of South Africa.

An Honorary Doctorate in Literature was conferred on Adriaan Donker by the University of Natal in 2000. The following citation accompanied the award:

“In 25 years of dedication to the literary life and values of South Africa, Mr Adriaan Donker lived his philosophy that literature should free the mind of racial bigotry and explore our common, though complex, humanity.

As an experienced publisher trained in Holland and the USA, Donker arrived in South Africa in 1966 to begin a branch of Macmillan Publishers. In 1973 he opened AD Donker (Johannesburg), a publishing company characterised by its commitment to the nurturing and publishing of South African English literature.

In the early 1970s it was difficult to be published in English in this country. Authors like Nadine Gordimer had to make their reputations abroad; local writers relied on publishers focused on the school textbook or coffee table markets. But, together with other pioneering local publishers Ravan Press and David Philip, Donker recognised the changing temper of those years: the time was right - socially and culturally - for a literary 'renaissance' in South Africa.

Donker published the first anthology of the new black poetry, or Soweto poetry: To Whom It May Concern was a landmark collection, and saw the recognition of Mtshali, Serote, Sepamla and Gwala. In a poetry series that not only kept alive local poetry but encouraged new talent, Donker published, among many others, the Selected Poetry of Douglas Livingstone (CNA Award), a four-volume Collected Works of Roy Campbell, the Selected William Plomer, and the Selected Guy Butler (CNA Award).

A Century of South African Short Stories has become a standard work in universities, while courses in South African literature in the '80s and '90s relied on Donker re-publications of the work of Olive Schreiner, Sol T Plaatje, Bessie Head, Sheila Roberts, and others. When censorship insisted certain writers remained banned under the Suppression of Communism Act, Donker published the then proscribed Bloke Modisane's Blame Me On History, a classic of the Sophiatown years, and Dikobe wa Mogale's collection of poems, A Baptism of Fire, while he was in jail on terrorism charges. (Mogale is the pen name of ANC parliamentarian Ben Martins.)

As Director of the Centre for Creative Arts Mr Donker displayed his rare combination of artistic, administrative and financial insight to transform the Centre into a hub of intercultural creativity in an annual Poetry Africa Festival, a major writers' festival, and the Durban International Film Festival. With its international links, the Centre has exposed Durban to an impressive array of talent, and earned the University of Natal an international reputation.

Towards the end of his tenure as Director of the Centre of Creative Arts Adriaan suffered a heart attack from which he never fully recovered.