Artscape pays tribute to writer Adam Small
A BUST of the renowned Cape Town writer and philosopher Adam Small will be unveiled at the Artscape Theatre in celebration of the Day of Reconciliation this weekend.
It was donated by the Stigting vir Bemagtiging deur Afrikaans (SBA) as a symbolic gesture and designed by Johannes du Plessis.
Small’s widower Rosalie Small will do the unveiling.
Artscape acting chief executive Peter Pedlar said: “We look forward to this auspicious event and trust that the bust will be viewed by the public as a show of appreciation to the contribution this literature giant made to the arts. We also appreciate this unveiling this year as he was a former member of the Artscape council.”
At the unveiling there will be a book sale and performances by Afrikaans rapper HemelBesem.
Dr Niel le Roux, head of SBA, said: “The foundation’s goal is to empower Afrikaans-speaking individuals through the development of the language and its literature.”
Small was born in Wellington on December 21, 1936. His family later moved to Goree outside Robertson where his father was a teacher. He studied for a degree in languages and philosophy at UCT and received an MA cum laude on the philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann and Friedrich Nietzsche. He also studied at the universities of London and Oxford and lectured philosophy at the University of Fort Hare. He served as University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) first head of the Department of Philosophy from 1960, left UWC in 1973 and returned as the head of the Department of Social Work in 1984 until his retirement in 1997. UWC conferred on him an honorary doctorate in 2001.