Vera Wülfing-Leckie

Vera Wülfing-Leckie (1954 – 8 February 2021) was a German-born British

Wülfing-Leckie began studies in medicine at the University of Dundee, where she became friends with South Africans committed to fighting apartheid, such as Edwin Cameron.^[1] The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 left her worried about the family's health, and planning to seek more safety in the southern hemisphere. The family moved to South Africa in 1989. A daughter, Alexia, was born in 1991. The couple divorced, and her husband returned to England. Wülfing-Leckie stayed and studied alternative medicine at the University of Johannesburg in 1997, completing a doctorate in homeopathy. She opened her own practice in Johannesburg.^[1]

Wülfing-Leckie met Boubacar Boris Diop, a Senegalese novelist. She moved to Senegal in 2009, where she practised homeopathy, but also began to translate literature. She translated texts by Diop to English, in 2014 the political essay L'Afrique au-delà du miroir to Africa Beyond the Mirror.^[1] In 2016, she translated the novel Doomi Golo, first written in the Wolof language.^[2] Together with El Hadji Moustapha Diop, she translated mainly from a French version, Les Petits de guenon, and the English novel was published as Doomi Golo: The Hidden Notebooks^[3] by the Michigan State University Press in the series African Humanities and the Arts.^[2] The book was on the shortlist for the 2017 Best Translated Book Award.^[4] She translated a novel by Véronique Tadjo, an author from Côte d'Ivoire, into English as In the Company of Men.^[1]

Health and death

Wülfing-Leckie was described by her former husband, Ross Leckie, as having suffered from depression for many years.^[1]

Vera Wülfing-Leckie died in the UK while visiting her children, at age 66.^[1]

References