From Sharpville to Rivonia

1959 was the year James Currey arrived in South Africa and found a nation in crisis. Hopes of change rose and foundered over the next five years. Letters and vivid conversations capture the excitement of daily life and political drama. An extra-parliamentary opposition had used non-violent means of protest since 1952, but on 21 March 1960 the police shot and killed 69 peaceful protesters in Sharpeville. It was a turning point. In March 1960, 35,000 Africans protested n Cape Town and the police responded with further savagery. Shortly after Randolph Vigne, Neville Rubin, Tim Holmes and James Currey founded The New African a radical review of politics and the arts. The intense comings and goings of a small magazine served as effective cover for acts of sabotage. In July 1964 Randolph Vigne appealed to Clare and James to help him escape. Clare had no hesitation; ‘Randolph and Gillian are our friends’, she said. James used his British passport, to buy a ticket on a Norwegian freighter so that Vigne could travel to Montreal. Two days later Clare and James flew out of Johannesburg. A book of publishing, politics, and protest.

James Currey worked for Oxford University Press and Heinemann, where with Chinua Achebe, he was as adviser on the first 100 titles of the African Writers Series. With his wife Clare he established, in 1985, the James Currey imprint as the outstanding list in African Studies.