Portraits (Hardcover)

"While printing these photographs of African writers u dating from the late sixties, through my years in exile and right up to the present u for this publication, I realized that I was retracing a journey that originated in the fishing village of Hout Bay, where I grew up in the fifties. My high school English teacher was Richard Rive, and he brought drama into the classroom. Walking around, constantly clutching a paperback by some renowned writer from Russia, Europe, the States and South Africa, he seemed so cool and with it....This is not a catalogue of writers; rather a shared journey with some and brief encounters with others, but always inspired by the printed word." --George Hallett

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 aeWillie' 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.

"George Hallett" is a Cape Town-based photographer who has exhibited internationally. He returned to South Africa in the early nineties after more than twenty years in exile. In 1980 he won the Hasselblad Award for Outstanding Contributions to Photography in Sweden, and in 1995 he won a Golden Eye in the World Press Photo Award for his essay on President Mandela during the 1994 election campaign.