New Age was an influential leftist newspaper in Johannesburg operating from 1953 to 1962. It was formed with the co-operation of a number of left-wing groups in the area; New Age received the assets of the communist Jewish Worker's Club, which had been liquidated in 1948.[1] The newspaper later received support from a committee of the anti-apartheid South African Students' Association.[2]
From the start, New Age published fiction and poetry as well as journalism. The newspaper had a prize for fiction depicting the oppressions of apartheid,[3] and introduced several important politically aware poets, most notably Keorapetse Kgositsile, who became the literary voice of the South African anti-apartheid movement while in exile in the United States.
In its journalism, New Age was aligned with the African National Congress, particularly the older generation of the ANC leadership.[4] It was sympathetic to labour movements and to militant leftists of all stripes. New Age was shut down by the government in 1962.