South African author and Nobel Prize winning activist Nadine Gordimer died on July 13 at the age of 90, her family have announced.

Nadine Gordimer, the daughter of Jewish immigrants of Russian origin, was born in 1923 in Springs, a small mining town outside Johannesburg, South Africa. She began writing when she was nine years old and published her first story at the age of fifteen.

Her first collection of short stories, entitled Face to Face was published in 1949, followed by eight more short story collections and eleven novels. In 1974 she won the Booker Prize and in 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in recognition for her accomplishments.

Nadine Gordimer was one of the literary world’s most powerful voices against apartheid. She was a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC) and fought for the release of Nelson Mandela.