Jan Rabie was a key figure in the movement in Afrikaans literature known as the Sestigers, comprising writers who published in the 1960s. Living in Paris for a number of years (1948–55), Rabie played an important role in the lives of several prominent Afrikaans writers who went to Europe and for whom he became a role model. He was married to Marjorie Wallace, a well-known South African painter of Scottish descent. From 1970 they lived in the small coastal village of Onrus in the Western Cape, and their home became a famous meeting place for artists and writers.