Annette Joelson (1903–1971)

Annette Joelson was born in Hopetown, South Africa, and received an arts degree from the University of Cape Town. She won first prize in a short story competition and began to submit articles and stories to publications in South Africa and England. She edited a women's magazine in Capetown and taught at the Observatory Girls High School. During World War II, she was a feature writer for an East African newspaper and taught school in Tanzania. In 1942, she married Maurice Jacobs, a merchant banker, and the couple later moved to London. Both before and after the war, she gave talks on the radio, first in South Africa and later on the BBC. Her novels included The Dancing Girl of Gilead (1930), Raw Clay, The Golden Stag, Desire Within, and Golden Living. She also wrote two biographies, Courtesan Princess: Catherine Grand, Princesse de Talleyrand (1937) and England's Princes of Wales (1966), both published in the USA. Her short stories and sketches collections included And Still Remember and By Helam An Die Rivier, written in Afrikaans.