Mandela and the General

British journalist John Carlin is the author of Knowing Mandela and Playing the Enemy, which became the Clint Eastwood film Invictus with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. He is also the author of Chase Your Shadow: The Trials of Oscar Pistorius; Rafa: My Story, with Raphael Nadal; and White Angels: Beckham, Real Madrid, and the New Football.John Carlin was South Africa bureau chief for the Independent from 1989 to 1995. In a 1998 interview, Nelson Mandela said of Carlin’s journalism: “What you wrote and the way in which you carried out your task in this country was absolutely magnificent…it was absolutely inspiring. You have been very courageous, saying things which many journalists would never say.”Carlin has also written for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Times of London, Financial Times, Toronto Star, El Pais, Daily Telegraph, Observer; New Statesman, Wired, Spin, Conde Nast Traveler, Punch, New Statesman, New Republic, Time, and has reported for BBC, ABC, PBS, and CBS. Oriol Malet, a professional illustrator and musician, trained at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. His work has appeared in La Vanguardia, Jot Down, and Time Out.

What you wrote and the way in which you carried out your task in this country was absolutely magnificent . . . it was absolutely inspiring. You have been very courageous, saying things which many journalists would never say. --Nelson Mandela on the author’s reporting in South Africa