4. About the book

Long Walk to Freedom is an autobiography credited to South African President Nelson Mandela. It was ghostwritten by Richard Stengell and first published in \(1994\ \)by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison.

 

The book won the Alan Paton Award in 1995 and has been published in many languages, including an Afrikaans translation by Antjie Krog.

 

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.

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.

 

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. English actor Idris Elba portrays Mandela in the film. 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. When the film was shown in London for Prince William and his wife, Nelson Mandela's death was announced.