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Author Biography:

Bessie Head was born in a mental hospital in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa to Bessie Emery, a wealthy white woman who had been in a relationship with a black stable-hand who worked for her family. Bessie was adoptedby a "Colored" (mixed-race) family . She was educated at a mission school, and received a teaching certificate in 1955. She taught for a few years, but did not like the job, and subsequently chose to work as a journalist. She wrote for Drum magazine. In 1960, she married a journalist named Harold Head. The marriage ended in divorce in 1964, and she took her son, Howard to Serowe, Botswana. More...

http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/africana/head.htm (University of Florida Africana Resources)