Who Killed Mr Drum?
Who Killed Mr Drum?
Corvo edition, 2003.
With a forward by Anthony Sampson.
Who Killed Mr Drum? is also available as an ebook
'Part biography, part murder-mystery, with gems about Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo and other lions of the apartheid era, this book is about the author's time as editor of the legendary and irreverent township magazine, Drum, and the untimely deaths of the talented black journalists who wrote for it. Both funny and poignant, it is as much about the comedy of apartheid in the 1950s (the illegal liquor, the jazz clubs, the absurdities of the pass system) as the tragedy. Includes beautiful, evocative photographs by former Drum photographers, Jürgen Schadeberg and Bob Gosani.
'They died long ago and far too early, yet with a fine kind of irony that would have appealed to them, they are more alive today than those who killed them.'
A taste of the critics
'One of the liveliest books about the pre-Mandela era - a very enjoyable read.'
Doris Lessing
'One of the strongest beginnings of any book I've read. When I read this chilling introduction it just brings back to me what happened with the death of Steve Biko.'
Donald Woods, With Great Pleasure, BBC.
Listen here.
'It's a literary gem.'
Ryan Fortune, Cape Times
'If you are exhausted and need a good night's sleep you should not pick up Who Killed Mr Drum? on getting into bed. .... you will not be able to put it down.'
Cape Times