Alan Paton

Alan Stewart Paton (1903 - 1988), South African author and founder of the South African Liberal Party, noted for his opposition to the Apartheid system. He was also principal of the Diepkloof Reformatory for young offenders (1935 - 1947). Among his works are Debbie Go Home (1961), Tales from a Troubled Land (1965) (short story collections), Cry, The Beloved Country (1948) and Too Late the Phalarope (1953). Cry, The Beloved Country was cinematized twice (1951, 1995), and was the basis for the Broadway piece Lost in the Stars (adaptation by Maxwell Anderson, music by Kurt Weill).