Athol Fugard was born on June 11, 1932, in Middelburg, Great Karoo, Cape Province, South Africa. He has written close to fifty plays, as well as four books and several screenplays. His plays include Blood Knot (1961); Boseman and Lena (1969); "Master Harold..".and the boys (1982); The Road to Mecca (1984) and My Children! My Africa! (1989). Many of his works were turned into films: Tsotsi, based on his 1980 novel, won the 2005 Academy Award for best foreign language film. His work spans the period of apartheid in South Africa (imposed in 1948), through the first democratic elections (April 27, 1994), when Nelson Mandela became president, and into the aftermath of the present day. South Africa's best-known playwright, and one of the most performed playwrights in the world, at eighty, Fugard continues to direct and to write plays.