‘V

REDEDORP is made up of 24 streets, running parallel to each other. They are known by their numbers . . . And from the streets and houses of Vrededorp, from the backyards and muddy alleys, a loud babel of shouting, laughing, cursing, voices rise, are swallowed by the limitless sky, and rise again in unending tumult.” — Tell Freedom (1954), Peter Abrahams (1919-2017).

Such is the town, west of the Johannesburg CBD, where Peter Abrahams (pictured right), one of the most significant black writers to emerge from South Africa in the 20th century, grew up. Conditions may