South African
author, born in 1923 and as far as I know, still going strong.
Won the 1991 Nobel prize for literature, has been writing them since a confirmed 15 years old. As one of the upper class South Africans (one of a middle class jewish immigrant), she described becoming politically aware as a writer like "peeling an onion. You're sloughing off all the conditioning that you've had since you were a child." Her writings range everywhere from a very careful optimism to circumstancial pessimism. People have commented that her writing is not onesided though, and debases the prejudice coming from both sides of the ethnic scale.
works include: A Guest of Honor, Burger's Daughter, July's People... and short story compilations like Friday's Footprint and other stories, Livingston's Companions, Something's out there, and Jump and other stories.
catch one of her websites at http://sfuhs.pvt.k12.ca.us/HTML/students/African/JulysPeople/julypeople.html
Editors Note:
Nadine Gordimer died on July 13, 2014. She was 90 years old. The news of her death was announced in a statement given by her family. No cause of death was given.