Leipoldt, Christiaan Louis (1880-1947), was a South African physician, journalist, and playwright. He became one of the most celebrated poets and authors in Afrikaans literature.
Christiaan Frederik Louis Leipoldt was born on Dec. 28, 1880, in Cape Colony, where his father was a missionary. He worked as a journalist before going to London to study medicine. In 1911, Leipoldt produced his first volume of poetry, Uncle Gert Relates and Other Poems. This book, inspired by the suffering inflicted by the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, earned him great acclaim. His poetry was also published in From Three Continents (1923) and The Consolation of Beauty (1932). In Bushveld Doctor (1937), he described the harsh life of rural schoolchildren in South Africa. He became familiar with this subject while he was a school medical inspector in the Transvaal in 1914. Leipoldt’s plays The Witch (1923) and The Last Evening (1930) were the first important dramatic works in Afrikaans.
Leipoldt was also known for his interest in local cooking. His book Kos vir die Kenner (1933) was published in English after his death as Leipoldt’s Cape Cookery. Leipoldt died on April 12, 1947.
