Blignaut was born in Bloemfontein in 1922 as Johanna Marthina Sophia Venter.
Her parents owned a farm in the Free State and she attended school near the Kaffer River.
Initially, she worked as a freelance but she was offered a permanent position at Rooi Rose magazine.
[1] Her most popular book was Donker op Nebo (1970), her first written in Afrikaans.
She also conducted the first interview granted with the Rain Queen Mokope Modjadji.