# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/keorapetse-kgositsile
# Generated: 2026-09-07T19:27:18.161Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/keorapetse-kgositsile"
name: "Keorapetse Kgositsile"
slug: "keorapetse-kgositsile"
description: "Keorapetse William Kgositsile, also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960s and 1970s, he was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2006. Kgositsile lived in exile in the United States from 1962 until 1975, the peak of his literary career. He made an extensive study of African-American literature and culture, becoming particularly interested in jazz. During the 1970s he was a central figure among African-American poets, encouraging interest in Africa as well as the practice of poetry as a performance art; he was well known for his readings in New York City jazz clubs. Kgositsile was one of the first to bridge the gap between African poetry and African-American poetry in the United States. His son is American rapper Earl Sweatshirt."
tagline: "South African poet and political activist (1938-2018)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Keorapetse_Kgositsile%2C_South_Africa's_National_Poet.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "South Africa"
  isoCode: "ZA"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1938-09-19"
deathDate: "2018-01-03"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           48.96
  momentum:             0
  historical:           10.64658933333333
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/462e4017-a11c-4903-92ec-6e2521d0ad19"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%89_%D9%83%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%84"
    title: "ويلى كجوسيتسيل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keorapetse_Kgositsile"
    title: "Keorapetse Kgositsile"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keorapetse_Kgositsile"
    title: "Keorapetse Kgositsile"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%A9%DB%8C%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%BE%D8%AA%D8%B3%DB%8C_%DA%A9%D9%88%D8%B2%DB%8C%D8%AA%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%84"
    title: "کیوراپتسی کوزیتسیل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keorapetse_Kgositsile"
    title: "Keorapetse Kgositsile"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AA%95%E0%AB%87%E0%AA%93%E0%AA%B0%E0%AA%BE%E0%AA%AA%E0%AB%87%E0%AA%A4%E0%AB%8D%E0%AA%B8%E0%AB%87_%E0%AA%96%E0%AB%8B%E0%AA%B8%E0%AA%BF%E0%AA%A4%E0%AB%8D%E0%AA%B8%E0%AA%BF%E0%AA%B2%E0%AB%87"
    title: "કેઓરાપેત્સે ખોસિત્સિલે"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keorapetse_Kgositsile"
    title: "Keorapetse Kgositsile"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%94%D5%A5%D5%B8%D6%80%D5%A1%D6%83%D5%A5%D5%A9%D5%BD%D5%A5_%D4%B3%D5%B8%D5%BD%D5%AB%D5%A9%D5%BD%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AC"
    title: "Քեորափեթսե Գոսիթսայլ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5%2C_%D0%9A%D0%B5%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D0%B5"
    title: "Кгоситсиле, Кеорапетсе"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keorapetse_Kgositsile"
    title: "Keorapetse Kgositsile"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%87%AF%E5%A5%A5%E6%8B%89%E4%BD%A9%E7%AD%96%C2%B7%E8%80%83%E6%96%AF%E5%B0%94"
    title: "凯奥拉佩策·考斯尔"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://zu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keorapetse_Kgositsile"
    title: "Keorapetse Kgositsile"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1657674"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump