The late James Matthews, who made a habit of being the outsider, banging on doors, lobbing verbal broadsides and sparring with the establishment, eventually did come in from the cold and is recognised as a major poetic voice of protest and resistance.

James Matthews was not just a writer but a fierce advocate for social change. By the end of the 1960s, his commitment to justice was so strong that he shifted from the short stories he had mastered to the more immediate, raw power of poetry, seeing it as a better tool for activism.

A critic, Thomas Penfold, wrote: "Poetry, he felt, was a form more suitable for rapid and accessible declarations."

And Matthews said: "Poetry is direct - like the banned Cry Rage - people remember this poem; they tell me it from memory. Younger guys, younger than I, will still recite a verse ... now that's important".

Matthews' poetry went on to have a wide impact. By the late seventies, his words - often shared through dog-eared copies of books such as Cry Rage and Pass Me a Meatball, Jones - were standard reading among activists in the Western Cape.

Matthews connected easily with young people in the arts, serving as an inspiration to them. He bonded with the likes of poet Sandile Dikeni, painter Tyrone Appollis and national arts administrators such as Raks Seakhoa and Lebogang...