Diana Ferrus

Diana is a writer, poet, performance poet and storyteller. Her work has been published in various collections and some serve as prescribed texts for high school learners. Diana completed her Bachelors at the University of the Western Cape as well as a postgraduate degree in Women’s and Gender Studies. In 2012 Diana received the inaugural Mbokodo Award for poetry. She has published 3 books, Ons Komvandaan in 2004, I've come to take you home in 2010, Die vrede kom later was launched on 27 July 2019.

In 2020 Diana received “The freedom of the town” from the Breede River Valley Municipality in Worcester, her birthtown. In 2022 Diana received an honorary doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch. Diana is internationally known and acclaimed for the poem that she wrote for the indigenous South African woman Sarah Baartman who was taken away from her country under false pretences and paraded as a sexual freak in Europe. This poem touched the heart of the French Senate and upon hearing it they voted unanimously that her remains should come home. This poem is published in the French Law, a first in French History. Diana’s work has had and still has a bearing and influence on matters of race, sex and reconciliation.