Long Walk to Freedom
Long Walk to Freedom is an autobiography by South Africa's first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela, and it was first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co.[1][2] The book profiles his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years spent in prison. Under the apartheid government, Mandela was regarded as a terrorist and jailed on Robben Island for his role as a leader of the then-outlawed African National Congress (ANC) and its armed wing the Umkhonto We Sizwe.[3][4] He later achieved international recognition for his leadership as president in rebuilding the country's once segregationist society.[5] The last chapters of the book describe his political ascension and his belief that the struggle still continued against apartheid in South Africa.[6]
This article is about the Nelson Mandela autobiography. For other uses, see Long Walk to Freedom (disambiguation).Author
English
Autobiography
1994
South Africa
Print (hardback and paperback)
630 pp
Reception[edit]
The book won the Alan Paton Award in 1995 and has been published in many languages, including an Afrikaans translation by Antjie Krog.
Film adaptation[edit]
Long Walk to Freedom has been adapted into a film titled Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom directed by Justin Chadwick, written by William Nicholson, and produced by Anant Singh. Mandela personally awarded the film rights to the book to Singh's company some years before 2009. Singh believes that as the film is based on Mandela's writing, it will be the "definitive" biopic of him.[10] English actor Idris Elba portrays Mandela in the film.[11] The film was limited released on 29 November 2013 in the United States. The full release happened on Christmas Day 2013 in the United States.[12] When the film was shown in London for Prince William and his wife, Nelson Mandela's death was announced.
Ghost writer and second memoir[edit]
In an obituary of Mandela, The Times of London reported that the latter chapters of Long Walk to Freedom had been "ghosted by a skilful US journalist", and that Mandela had later started work on a second set of memoirs without a ghost writer.[13]
A follow-up memoir was published in 2017, compiled by Mandla Langa from Mandela's handwritten notes and unfinished draft, together with archive material and with a prologue by Graça Machel: entitled Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years, this volume took its title from the closing sentence of Long Walk to Freedom: "But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended."[14][15][16]