R. L. Peteni was a writer and professor born in 1915 in the Qoboqobo district, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. He studied English and Social Anthropology at the University of Fort Hare and taught in schools across Heilbron and Transvaal. He served as president of the Cape African Teachers' Union from 1965 to 1976, during which he returned to the University of Fort Hare to lecture English. His debut novel, Hill of Fools (1976) was the first novel to be published in English by a Xhosa speaker and the first South African regional novel in English by a Black writer. He later translated the book into Xhosa as Kwazidenge (1980) before becoming Chancellor of the University of Transkei in 1989. Peteni died in 2000.
