Sydney (Sipho) Sepamla (1932 – 9 January 2007) was a contemporary South African poet and novelist. Born near Krugersdorp, Sipho lived most of his life in Soweto and studied teaching at Pretoria Normal College prior to attending drama school in the UK in the early 70s. On returning to South Africa, he published his first volume of poetry, ‘Hurry Up to It!’ in 1975 and the first of a number of books ‘The Soweto I Love’ in 1977.

Founder of the Federated Union of Black Artists (now the Fuba Academy of Arts) and editor of the literary magazine New Classic and the theatre magazine S’ketsh, Sepamla received the Thomas Pringle Award in 1977 and the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his writing. He served as a member of the government’s Arts and Culture Task Group post 1994.