Portraits of African Writers

A chronological arrangement of the lives of writers from the 1960s to the present

This is a stunning collection of more than 100 portraits, in black and white, of writers from Africa and, in particular, South Africa. The chronological arrangement reveals the changing conditions and roles of writers from the 1960s to the present: While the early pictures were mostly taken in exile, there is a distinct shift as writers came back to South Africa in the early nineties. The most recent photographs were taken after the Pretoria Writers Conference in 2002, which provided landmark debates around the identity and role of writers currently living in South Africa. A foreword by Keorapetse 'Willie' Kgositsile reflects on the early times, while short texts by some of the more recent writers reflect the diversity of views held by writers living in contemporary South Africa.