Breytenbach, a white Afrikaan poet, was sentenced to a nine year prison sentence in South Africa in 1975, accused of terrorism against the Apartheid regime. He served seven years of a nine year sentence. Breytenbach's poetry was first published in 1965 and he became a French citizen following his release from prison.
He is a professor at the University of New York (NYU), where he serves in the Graduate School of Creative Writing. He also teaches at the Gorée Institute in Dakar, Senegal. In 2000, he was appointed for a three year term as a Visiting Professor in the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Humanities.
Breytenback is also an artist. He writes poetry in Afrikaan but novels and essays in English and French.
