In late February, College welcomed Athol Williams, poet, social philosopher and Lecturer at the Said Business School, to give a talk on the life of Jesus alumnus Arthur Nortje, and how he has been an inspiration in Williams’s own life and struggles.

 

Arthur Nortje (1965, English Literature) was a South African poet who spent his life fighting for racial equality. He grew up during apartheid, and experienced at first hand the racial segregation, and discrimination, that permeated every aspect of life for non-white South Africans at that time.  After school, he studied at University College of the Western Cape, before being awarded a scholarship to Jesus College to study English.

 

Freed from the constraints of Apartheid, Nortje decided to remain in the UK to continue his writing and education after graduation, and died in Oxford aged just 27, while studying for a DPhil. He is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery. His poetry, published posthumously in the collections Dead Roots (London, 1973) and Lonely Against the Light (Grahamstown, 1973) is full of evocative reflections on identity and belonging.

Athol Williams is also South African, and grew up in township established under apartheid. As an Engineering student at the University of the Witwatersrand, in 1991, he published his first poem, ‘New South Africa’, which spoke to the optimism connected with the release of Nelson Mandela, and other anti-apartheid leaders, from prison in 1990. He went on to have a successful career in business, before becoming a professional writer and academic. Williams holds seven university degrees, including five masters degrees, from five top-ranked global universities, and a PhD from the University of Oxford. He has a long history of public service promoting youth literacy, and resisting corporate corruption. A core theme of his work is the possibility of ethical behaviour by individuals, corporations and broader societies.  

During Williams’ talk, ‘Arthur Nortje and Me’, he spoke of what is known about Nortje’s short life and character, his time at Oxford, and his self-imposed exile in the UK. Through describing his own life, and by giving readings from both Nortje’s poetry and his own, Williams was able to draw comparisons in the poets’ creative response to their lived experiences.

The event was organised by the College’s EDI Committee and hosted by Dr Stuart White, EDI Fellow.