Achmat Dangor was born in Johannesburg in 1948. In the 1980s, Dangor, one of the co-founders of the Congress of South African Writers, published stories, poetry, and novels, including Kafka’s Curse, which called attention to the complex problems of the many ethnic and religious groups in South African society. At the request of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dangor took over the direction of the Kagiso Trust, the largest foundation directed by blacks in South Africa. He was the director of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund until the end of 2001 and since has lived in Johannesburg and New York.