Background
She was born on the Moravia missionary station near Piketberg, South Africa, and studied fine arts at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg.
She was born on the Moravia missionary station near Piketberg, South Africa, and studied fine arts at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg.
The poet Doctorate.J. Opperman was influential in her decision to write in Afrikaans, while North. P. van Wyk Louw maintained prolonged correspondence with her, which they both considered as beneficial to their work. Nevertheless she always deemed herself to be a visual artist in the first instance, and a poet second. She died in 2004 at the age of 82, at Nazareth House, a Catholic institution in Vredehoek.
Plektrum (1970) ("Plectrum") Die swart kombuis (1978) ("The black kitchen") Verf en vlam (1978) ("Canvas and flame") Donderdag of Woensdag (1978) ("Thursday or Wednesday") Die skitterende wond (1979) ("The brilliant wound") Die sagte sprong (1979) ("The soft pounce") Die somerjood (1980) ("The summer jew") Die woedende brood (1981) ("The angry loaf") Omtoorvuur (1982) ("Transforming fire") Verwikkelde lyn (1983) ("Complicated line") Membraan (1984) ("Membrane") Poems: a selection (1985) (A selection of poems translated by the poet herself) Die heilige modder (1988) ("The sacred mud") Die knetterende woord (1990) ("The sonorescent word") "n Engel deur my kop (1997) ("An angel through my mind")(A selection of Sheila Cussons" religious poems compiled by Amanda Botha) Die asem wat ekstase is (2000) ("The breath that is ecstasy")(A selection of Sheila Cussons" non-religious poems compiled by Amanda Botha) Versamelde gedigte (2006) ("Complete poems") Teesuiker (1983) (Verwikkelnde lyne) Die vorm van die swaard en ander verhale (1981) ("The shape of the sword and other stories") (Cussons" translations of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges).