Sean Palfrey – författare

Community Child Health is designed to orient physicians, nurses, social workers, public health officers, and allied professionals to the world of children and to help them devise practice styles and priorities in concert with the current needs of children. Palfrey's central thesis is that society has lost sight of children, and, as a result, we have done a very poor job of structuring the environment to nurture them as they grow. Ironically, communities are breaking apart just at the time when families need them the most, leaving children vulnerable, confused, and isolated. The health consequences include poor school performance, behavioral problems, injuries, early sexuality, drug and alcohol use, weapons possession, homicide, and suicide.The medical professions can have a major impact in reversing these social and health problems. Palfrey has designed this book to equip such professionals with the conceptual frame, data base, and practical tips and tools that will result in improved results in the growth and development of children. It is an advocate's manual, a cookbook for the program planner, and a guide for the child health professional seeking improvements in community child care.

In Home, Palfrey shares his beautiful images and stories of the many people and places he has encountered around the world in his work as a paediatrician and travels over the past 45 years. Polymath Sean Palfrey’s work as a paediatrician and natural scientist informs this fascinating first entry, Home, into his forthcoming series of photography books. In Home, Palfrey shares his beautiful images and stories of the many people and places he has encountered around the world in his work and travels over the past 45 years. A lifetime of observation and experience with children is channelled into his lyrical image-making and poetic text. Home ruminates on the variety of human and animal experiences across the globe, taking us from North and South America, to East Africa and South Asia, among other places. The result is a joyous and moving book that leaves us with a poignant message: that all living creatures need to have safe places that they consider 'home', where they can be protected, loved, sheltered, preserved, fed and surrounded by communities of adults.

Wander features Sean Palfrey’s beautiful, varied and insightful travel photography and writings, exploring the joy of following a winding course.To wander is to travel without a fixed route or destination, to move expectantly through the world. Wander, the second volume in Sean Palfrey’s photography book series, explores the joy of following a winding course. Palfrey is a renowned paediatrician and child health advocate, who travels the world with his work and for pleasure. His fascination with people, places and stories informs both his artistic and professional practices. Wander traces Palfrey’s journeys across continents and cultures over five decades and features seventy photographs of remarkable places, from the mountain ranges of South Africa to the beaches of Chile, the woods of Canada to the deserts of New Mexico, to name a few. In the text accompanying each photo, Palfrey explores the stories and myths of the localities as he recounts his experiences, thoughts and meditations in lyrical narratives. Wander depicts and describes vastness and intimacy, beauty and loss, heritage and change. Palfrey affirms photography’s capacity to spark our imaginations: ‘Every photo here has a story, a back story, a then-story and a since-story.’

Dance showcases Sean Palfrey’s creative vision in a beautiful suite of images drawn from his photographic archive, each of them accompanied by poetic reflections on the very idea of dance.What presents itself to our minds when we hear the word ‘dance’? Movement, music and rhythm, of course. The jitterbug and the slow waltz. But what if we go beyond the obvious? Dance, the fourth volume in Sean Palfrey’s photography series, seeks to expand our conception of dance and to find and celebrate its presence in the world around us: in the graceful shape of a flower or leaf, in the elegant cursive of a spiral staircase, and in the joyfully uplifted arm of the newlywed. Palfrey is a renowned paediatrician and child health advocate who travels the world with his work and for pleasure. His fascination with people, places and stories informs both his artistic and his professional practice. In Dance, Palfrey has curated a beguiling set of pictures and poetic texts that riff on movement and stillness, rhythm and flow, and the poetry of the curve. He asks us to consider the form of the ancient, gnarled tree, or the sinuous line of the winding river; the play of light and shadow on a frescoed wall, or the luminous colours of stained glass – all these are examples of dance. It is everywhere around us: pay attention and we will find it.