South African novelist Nadine Gordimer has died

One of the most powerful anti-apartheid voices, South African novelist Nadine Gordimer, has died.

She started writing at the age of nine and used her pen to battle against the inequality of white rule for decades.

Gordimer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991.

Despite her hatred of apartheid, Gordimer was proud of her South African heritage and said she only once considered emigrating to Zambia.

Some of her novels, such as Burger’s Daughter and A World of Strangers, had been banned by the apartheid authorities.

More recently she became a vocal campaigner for the lobbying and fundraising for HIV prevention and treatment services.

She died peacefully at her Johannesburg home surrounded by her children. She was 90.