Basil du Toit

Basil du Toit was born in Cape Town, a city for which he retains a deep affection, but spent most of his childhood growing up in Zimbabwe and Botswana. He is grateful for the access that this upbringing gave him to an older (not necessarily better) Africa, one simpler and perhaps more innocent than that of today, in touch with more authentic original cultures of southern Africa. He is grateful too for his grounding in the poetical tradition of southern Africa, and has a special sense of loyalty to the literary generation of the 1970s in South Africa. Subsequent exposure to other English literatures (especially US poetry) has not dimmed this love for the African poets of his upbringing. Although nearly all of his poetry has been written in Scotland, Du Toit identifies both as a Scottish and as a South African poet. In 1987 he shared the Sanlam Literary Award with the poet Douglas Livingstone. Subsequently he has been a winner of the 2015 Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition (judged by Billy Collins) and won the Wigtown Poetry Prize in 2021 (judged by William Letford).