Levy, Deborah

The British playwright and novelist Deborah Levy was born in South Africa. Her father, a Jewish historian who was a friend of Nelson Mandela's and a member of the ANC, spent much of Levy's early childhood in prison. When he was released in 1968, he was placed under house arrest. As it became impossible for him to work, the family chose to emigrate to the UK when Levy was nine years old.