South Africa

South Africa, Maverick Life

In memoriam: Robin Malan, Rebel Angel

Robin Malan is with Andi Mgibantaka, ex-English-Aliver and current CEO of Junkets. (Photograph: Courtesy of Fahiem Stellenboom)

By Anne Schlebusch

4 Oct 2024

Robin Malan – educator, collator, editor, actor, director, writer, publisher – with decades of service behind him, bowed out on 18 September after a short spell in hospital, aged 84.

He was an action-oriented, completely self-effacing and tireless leader and servant. He trusted and uplifted others and they blossomed and remembered him for it.

Robin had room in his head and heart for the widest possible range of literature, from Shakespeare and Keats to the work of teens still at school, from Africa to all continents. He was not “just” a wordsmith, he worked to a purpose. He was a rebel indeed.

The poet, John Keats, famously wrote to Benjamin Haydon in 1817: “I feel confident I should have been a rebel angel had the opportunity been mine”.

Robin grabbed that as a title for his 2005 Rebel Angel account of Keats’ Life. He wrote the book for young readers, explaining his motive to Michelle McGrane (Litnet Boek Indaba): “We read and we hear every day, about some youngster totally overcoming the most severe drawbacks, and achieving wonders. I think Keats’ story is one of those, and I want young South Africans to read about him and feel ‘Hey, I could do that!’ And I want them to know that you can achieve in whatever area you choose to … like, you can be a poet!”

Poetry and activism

Pensioners still hang on to their copies of Inscapes, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). This poetry anthology, first published in 1969 when Robin was 29, was widely prescribed in schools for Grade 12 learners.

Interestingly, the OUP editorial manager who spotted the anthology’s potential was David Phillips himself, not yet in his own famous publishing house.

In Inscapes, Robin assembled not only the great poems of “the canon” but also the works of South African poets. As time went by, he came out with New Inscapes, then Worldscapes, continually standing his ground to expand the selection to include more and more African, and then global “Third World” works.

South Africa was in its darkest times and any apparent liberalism through poetic works could rule out lucrative chances for a book to be prescribed. Robin reported (2005: The Cape Librarian, Publishing and me) that Inscapes sold 201,000 copies, but that by the mid-80s he was “miserably unhappy” that it was still doing so well. He had noted the surge of amazing published poetry by black writers and that “none of this was being put in front of South African students 15-or-so years later”.

When New Inscapes came out, after he had had to fight for the inclusion of some poems considered too risky and a statement cover, the Transvaal Education Department, as anticipated, condemned it as “too radical politically”. However, it sold 270,000 copies.

When Worldscapes came out in 1997, Robin’s introduction read in part “… that it might open up students’ experience. By this I mean their experience of English as much as their world view”. It sold 145,000 copies – these figures are massive in South African terms.

It’s impossible to quantify how much we owe Robin for continually expanding the scope and range of poems anthologised. His bold and judicious selections helped us find ourselves and one another in the post-apartheid world. Without his work how much longer would it have taken us to emerge out of our insular blindness?

Robin Malan, 1968 (Photograph: Hilton Teper)

Theatre work

Robin studied English and Drama at UCT (BA Hons, BEd 1962). His teaching career kicked off at Cape Town High where his legendary theatre work brought the school a stellar reputation for lively and avant-garde productions, both of Shakespeare and of modern works.

Older teens thronged there for his June school holiday Winter School of Drama where tens of hundreds of the Who’s Who of theatre in South Africa first met one another and could perform or direct at the Little Theatre. Robin had a short stint on the staff at Stellenbosch University and then a few years taking Theatre-in-education, PACT Playwork, to schools in the then Transvaal.

Beloved theatre-maker Janice Honeyman remembers those days in her Facebook tribute: “Robin, we loved that hearty, real laugh, that clever, knowing, enjoying glint in your eye, that sharp editing instinct, that kind, thoughtful, listening mentor, that advisor, that not-to-be-crossed man of principle against anything slanted or dishonest or bigoted or unjust, that passion for potential, growth and flowering of young people. Do you know how many of us were moulded and shaped and influenced by you from a very early age?

“Your Space days, your PACT Playwork days where we fought the authorities with such vehement ‘bogger-Julle’ energy when they banned, censored and tried to control us!! We’re all still grateful to you for that character-building fight you passed on to us.”

The exile years

In 1978, Robin went into exile, after the death of Steve Biko. He relocated to Mbabane in then Swaziland, to teach at Waterford-Kamhlaba United World College where he was head of English, and eventually, became assistant head.

He also opened a key point in the town, AfricaSouth Bookshop. In his tribute to the late Denis Goldberg, Robin said: “because it contained all the material you were not allowed to see, read or possess in South Africa, it became known in the book trade as the ‘ANC in Swaziland’.”

He described how he would source books, posters and pamphlets direct from the ANC London merchandise office, usually getting Denis on the line. It then became the job of AfricaSouth to get these across the border into South Africa.

Ramila Patel, an ex-colleague, recalls riches that no South African schools experienced in those years: “A cherished time was helping Robin to organise the Arts Festival Weekends, with writers and performing and visual artists from the southern African region invited to enrich the experiences of the international body of students. Robin also organised whole-school Sharpeville and June 16 commemoration days annually. Within a week of my arriving at Waterford-Kamhlaba, Nelson Mandela was released. His daughters, Zenani and Zindzi, had attended the school in the 70s. Needless to say, Robin promptly organised a group of students to celebrate Mandela’s release with the whole school at an all-day party, with his grandson, Mandla, leading the singing and the dancing.”

Photo: Robin Malan and ex-colleague from Waterford-Kamhlaba, Ramila Patel (Photograph: Supplied by Ramila Patel)

Ex-pupil, Merlin Watt, describes how Wally Serote listened to the poems they had written and engaged with them, adding: “Oh I’m still learning so much about Ramila and Robin’s exploits and activism that, even now, at 52 years old I look back and think – my gods – we were so absolutely naive and didn’t appreciate at the time what pioneers they were. What dissidents. How courageous and defiant against social injustice. It’s even now, a bit overwhelming to consider.”

Ex-colleague Mike Linden tells of his awe that the influential Robin, “a gentle and humble man, at a small college in a remote corner of Africa” could persuade the all-powerful and conservative Cambridge O-Level examiners to let them choose their own literature texts, with “a heavily African component”. He recalls the excellent plays Robin produced and describes Robin’s commitment to promoting others, entertainingly, as “he would no more have pushed himself to the forefront than he could have played cricket”.

The post-exile years

What brought Robin back to Cape Town in 1992, after the unbanning of the ANC, was both the new status of South Africa and a heart attack he had had. It was time to pour his time and energy into building the new South Africa.

Robin’s massive output included Poetry Works, prescribed at university level. This was the time for that third major anthology for high schools, Worldscapes. He also published, and updated, anthologies of verse and drama for primary schools. He has collections of South African short stories and short plays. There are books about theatre-making and short (David Philip) books about iconic South African leaders, like Steve Biko and Nelson Mandela. He wrote novels for teenagers, plays and poems.

The Triangle Project is dedicated to supporting members of the LGBTI+ community. Robin served them as an invaluable, informed and compassionate volunteer helpline counsellor for nearly two-and-a-half decades.

A huge contribution has been the work of his little publishing house, Junkets, named after the poet, John Keats (say his name fast).

Robin Malan is with Andi Mgibantaka, ex-English-Aliver and current CEO of Junkets. (Photograph: Courtesy of Fahiem Stellenboom)

Junkets, started in 2005, is about to publish its one hundredth title, under the leadership of ex-English-Aliver and present-day CEO, Andi Mgibantaka.

One hundred titles, and many of them LGBT+ theatre. Fourteen of them from winners of the Baxter Zabalaza Festival. Published on a shoestring. Robin was adamant that the texts needed to be very affordable – around R30 at first. The first few were sold innovatively – in place of the glossy programmes of the day. Robin argued how valuable it would be to be able to go home and study the scenes you delighted in.

So began a South African Theatre revolution. Plays by young individuals and groups were being published. Artscape’s tribute noted, “He played a pivotal role in getting many of our Artscape dramas workshopped and published through the New Writing Programme, bringing South African stories to stages around the world, including prestigious festivals such as the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival and the Black Theatre Festival in North Carolina.”

This publishing was never just transactional. Theatre-Robin went to every young person’s show. Recognisable by his genial smile and his brightly coloured print shirts he always had a gang of talented actors and writers around him. Artscape, the Baxter and Magnet Theatres have all described in loving detail how Robin would support their work.

Not all Junkets publications are plays. Robin’s Rebel Angel was the first. His memoir On the Way to Somewhere was another. He even published a book on knitting, written by his sister.

Launching young writers

Robin was one of the founding editors of English Alive in 1967 – an anthology of writing by school-going youth. He was the editor of this iconic publication more than 25 times in all, thus offering around 2,000 young writers their first shot at publication. The list of those who went on to become prominent writers across all genres is huge.

Pearson Books acknowledged the role of English Alive in subsidising a special anthology of works by 205 student writers, in honour of the 50th anniversary of the first publication. Robin didn’t “just” publish ever – he kept loving tabs on the literary careers of ex-English Alivers – and they are everywhere! 58 years of them.

The Siyagruva series, published by New Africa Books, was Robin’s brainchild – a series of very affordable fast-paced novels for English second-language teens. They were published in two waves – one in around 2002 and then again in 2023/24. Whole shelves full of the same eight young dancers facing a string of challenges, great friendships and all the stuff about growing up – this was the dream. Growing reading.

So far, the 32 books have involved 18 authors of various ages (the youngest was a teen) and races, writing as individuals, or in pairs, and 15 have been translated into either Zulu or Xhosa or both. In a brilliant move, one has been translated into Kaaps (Afrikaaps) and has just launched at UWC.

Pop-culture Robin

An instant classic, idolised by students of language, humour and self-reflection, was his phonetic, finger-pointing book, Ah Big Yaws? by Rawbone Malong, published by David Philip in 1972. It looks like a tailpiece here, but it’s an essential reference to an iconic book.

Robin has won numerous awards, including the Molteno, the Arts and Culture Trust (for Excellence in Literature), Fleur du Cap Theatre (for Innovation) plus a Zabalala Festival Award and the English Academy Gold Medal.

But more than these, he has won the hearts of thousands who have been introduced to the world of theatre, of writing, of poetry and short stories or loved any of the many books he has written or helped give birth to.

***

Robin Malan was an entirely modest man, with zero interest in self-promotion. He shone the light on others. He was the very epitome of a calm, persistent, visionary, hard-working Rebel Angel. There is no one else in South Africa with a reach like his.

I can imagine his reaction if I told him I’d dubbed him a Rebel Angel. He would grin widely, like he did when he was dodging praise, and shake his head, with that laughing, but categorical, ‘Oh no-o-o-o!’. But I’m overruling him this time. Rebel Angel. Born to be. To tell the truth, he’d be pleased, I think. DM

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