Alan Paton

Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer, anti-apartheid activist, and educator. His works include the novels Cry, the Beloved Country (1948), Too Late the Phalarope (1953), and the short story The Waste Land. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold for his literary contributions to the anti-apartheid movement. Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Colony of Natal (now South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province). He was the son of James Paton, a civil servant and Scottish immigrant, and Eunice Warder Paton (née James), a schoolteacher of English descent. Both of his parents were deeply religious, raising him in the Christadelphian faith, and neither was highly educated. Paton's father was a strict disciplinarian whose beatings instilled in him a lasting opposition to corporal punishment, but who also introduced him to literature and inspired him to love nature. He was closer to his mother, who was well known for her integrity and faith. She had a strong influence over Paton's values as a child, particularly through the development of his compassion for others and his desire to promote social justice. After attending Maritzburg College for high school, Paton earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown.