Writers
Harvey Tyson
Harvey Tyson has been a journalist for more than 60 years and author or co-author of half a dozen books about South Africa.
His work has brought him in contact with most political leaders including every prime minister and president of the country
since World War II – from Smuts and Malan, to Mandela and Mbeki.
He was a political reporter, a parliamentary correspondent and, for nearly 17 years, editor of SA’s biggest newspaper, The Star.
However his interests lie only cursorily in politics, and much more in freedom of speech, the people, the land and the open spaces of
South Africa where his family has lived for nearly 200 years.
Nicholas Yell
Nicholas Yell is a 47-year-old ex-adman from Jo’burg. In 2001 he left the big smoke for the verdant hills of the Overberg, where he and his wife, Lerié, dabbled in wines, art and decor in the picturesque village of Napier. They discovered that, although the roles of country shopkeepers kept them in food and wine, their hearts were set on fruits of another kind: Nick wanted to pursue his photographic, copywriting and other writing interests full-time, and Lerié her passion for art and design. They moved to the small Karoo town of Aberdeen, on the plains of the Camdeboo, in September 2005. They lived there in a lovingly restored “Karoo-huis” on a large plot of land that they shared with fruit trees, vegetables and two fat cats. Nick and Lerié have just recently relocated to Botriver in the Western Cape - and sadly, only one fat cat remains.
Nick also writes travel articles for a number of newspapers and magazines, as well as short stories and is some way into a contemporary South African novel. And to put a greater variety of bread on the table until he is rich and famous, he has even been known to still write an ad — or two.
When Nick’s not working or spending time with Lerié, he’ll be riding his off-road motorbike, walking the veld, drinking a glass of good red wine, listening to music or, of course, reading a good book.
