Archie Crail facts for kids

Archie Crail is a talented writer from South Africa who later became a Canadian citizen. He was born in 1944 in a town called Paarl, in South Africa. He is known for his collection of short stories titled The Bonus Deal. This book was even nominated for a special award, the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction, in 1992.

Archie Crail's Early Life and Activism

Archie Crail grew up in Paarl, South Africa. He is a "Coloured" South African, which means he has mixed ancestry, including people from the Khoisan groups. He studied at the University of South Africa.

During his youth, South Africa had a system called apartheid. This was a very unfair system where people were separated and treated differently based on their race. Black people and people of colour had fewer rights than white people. Archie Crail became an activist, which means he worked to fight against this unfair system.

He joined the African National Congress (ANC), a group that worked to end apartheid. He also studied theology, which is the study of religious beliefs, under a very famous leader named Desmond Tutu. Desmond Tutu later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work against apartheid.

Archie Crail also lived in a place called South-West Africa (now Namibia) for several years. There, he continued his fight against apartheid with another group called SWAPO. He briefly lived in Botswana before moving to Canada in 1980.

Moving to Canada and New Beginnings

In 1980, Archie Crail and his family moved to Regina, a city in Saskatchewan, Canada. He continued his education at the University of Regina. He even took classes in creative writing, learning from another author named Ven Begamudré.

Archie Crail's Writing Career

Archie Crail started his writing career with a play called Exile. A play is a story written to be performed on a stage. In 1989, his play won a writing competition held by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. The play was then performed by a theater group in Saskatoon in 1990. Later, Exile was even performed in South Africa.

His book of short stories, The Bonus Deal, was published in 1992. Short stories are shorter fictional tales. Some of the stories from The Bonus Deal were even turned into radio plays for CBC Radio, so people could listen to them.

In 1991, the South African government changed its rules. It allowed members of the African National Congress who had been living outside the country to return home. Archie Crail went back to South Africa to attend a big meeting of the organization in a city called Durban.

Works by Archie Crail

• Exile (1990)
• The Bonus Deal (1992)