Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Abridged Children’s Edition)

Christopher van Wyk (1957 – 2014) was a South African children’s book author, novelist and poet. Van Wyk is famous for his poem “In Detention” on the suspicious deaths that befell South African political prisoners during Apartheid.

Van Wyk was born in Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. When he was a little older, his family moved to Riverlea, a suburb outside of Johannesburg. He was educated at Riverlea High School in Riverlea, Johannesburg, where he lived until 2005. His autobiographical novel Shirley, Goodness & Mercy details his childhood growing up in Riverlea. The follow-up novel, Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch, continues this theme. Van Wyk worked as a clerk for the independent South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED) as an educational writer of accessible literature for new readers. He was also editor of Staffrider from 1981 to 1986 and in 1980 started the short-lived Wietie magazine with Fhazel Johennesse. One of Van Wyk’s most notable achievements was his abridgement of Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom for children.