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Geoff Blackwell is a New Zealand publisher, author and film director, the co-founder of Blackwell & Ruth, and founder of MILK Tailormade Books. [1] [2] He has created books, exhibitions and films on subjects of humanity, equality and the environment. [3] He is the creator and director of the Netflix original series Live to Lead, which was created in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation. [4]
In 2003 Blackwell established an independent publishing house, PQ Blackwell, [1] and in 2012 he founded print-on-demand photo book business, MILK Tailor Made Books. [5]
In 2017 he co-founded Blackwell & Ruth in partnership with Ruth Hobday, his long-time creative partner. [6] [7]
Blackwell worked alongside the late Nelson Mandela and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, [8] [9] with whom he created five books including New York Times bestseller [10] Conversations with Myself [11] and The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela. [12]
He published Tutu: The Authorized Portrait with Archbishop Desmond Tutu [13] and two books on the struggle for freedom in South Africa with anti-apartheid activist the late Ahmed Kathrada. [1]
Blackwell has created books with international photographers Tim Flach, Platon, Albert Watson, Elliott Erwitt, Andrew Zuckerman, Phillip Toledano, Mark Laita, Rachael Hale McKenna, Leila Jeffries, Kieran E. Scott, Peter and Beverly Pickford, KK Ottesen, Vince Musi and Callie Shell. [1] [14]
In 1998 Blackwell created M.I.L.K: Moments of Intimacy, Laughter and Kinship, an international photographic competition which received 40,000 entries from 164 countries. [15] [16]
200 Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World is a book and exhibition gender equality initiative published in 2018. [17] Co-authored with Ruth Hobday, it combines original interviews with photographic portraits by Kieran E. Scott, and was the result of a global journey to find two hundred women from diverse backgrounds, and to ask them what really matters to them. [18]
In 2020 Blackwell and co-author Ruth Hobday published Human Nature: Planet Earth In Our Time. [19] [20] The book examines the age of the Anthropocene and the effect of humanity’s intersection with nature, asking photographers Joel Sartore, Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale, Brent Stirton, Frans Lanting, Brian Skerry, Tim Laman, Cristina Mittermeier, J Henry Fair, Richard John Seymour, George Steinmetz and Steve Winter about their view on the present geological era for the planet. [21]
In 2020 Blackwell published I Know This to Be True, a series of books featuring original interviews with modern leaders including Jacinda Ardern, Bryan Stevenson, Stephen Curry, Greta Thunberg and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Inspired by Nelson Mandela and produced in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, [22] the project shares the ideas, work and values of modern leaders. I Know This to Be True is the basis for the Netflix documentary series Live to Lead, also created and directed by Blackwell.
In 2022 Netflix released the original series Live to Lead, directed by Blackwell and produced by Ruth Hobday. [4] The series was created in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and executive-produced by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan. [23] [24]
Blackwell has created multi-platform projects including Wisdom, a book, film and exhibition with photographer Andrew Zuckerman [25] featuring portraits and interviews with fifty famous 65-year-olds; and 200 Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World, a book and exhibition project [26] [18] with co-author Ruth Hobday and photographs by Kieran E. Scott.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and Politician, and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She served as a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2003, and from 2009 until her death, and was a deputy minister of arts and culture from 1994 to 1996. A member of the African National Congress (ANC) political party, she served on the ANC's National Executive Committee and headed its Women's League. Madikizela-Mandela was known to her supporters as the "Mother of the Nation".
Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term meaning "humanity". It is sometimes translated as "I am because we are", or "humanity towards others". In Xhosa, the latter term is used, but is often meant in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity".
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded by Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose will called for her art collection to be permanently exhibited "for the education and enjoyment of the public forever."
The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956.
Gillian Slovo is a South African-born writer who lives in the UK. She was a recipient of the Golden PEN Award.
Kadir Nelson is a Los Angeles–based painter, illustrator, and author who is best known for his paintings often featured on the covers of The New Yorker magazine, and album covers for Michael Jackson and Drake. His work is focused on African-American culture and history. The New York Times describes his work as: "sumptuous, deeply affecting work. Nelson’s paintings are drenched in ambience, and often overt symbolism. He has twice been a Caldecott honor recipient and won the 2020 Caldecott Medal for his book The Undefeated.
Jürgen Schadeberg was a German-born South African photographer and artist. He photographed key moments in South African history, including iconic photographs such as Nelson Mandela at Robben Island prison. He also lived, worked and taught in London and Spain, and photographed in many African countries.
Peter Magubane is a South African photographer.
Rosalind Coward is a journalist and writer. She is an Emeritus Professor of journalism at Roehampton University, and a former member of the board of Greenpeace UK (2005–12).
Andrew Zuckerman is an American filmmaker and photographer. He is best known for creating hyper-real images set against stark white backgrounds. His subjects have included birds, endangered species of animals, politicians, humanitarians, artists, and entertainers.
Philippa Jane Ussher is one of New Zealand's foremost documentary and portrait photographers. She joined the New Zealand Listener in 1977 and was chief photographer for 29 years, leaving to take up a career as a freelance photographer and author.
Charlene Leonora Smith is a South African journalist, published author of 14 books, and is an authorized biographer of Nobel Peace Prize winner, and former South African President, Nelson Mandela. She is a communications and marketing consultant, and writing teacher, who lives and works in the United States.
Reynolds Mark Ellis was an Australian social and social documentary photographer. He also worked, at various stages of his life, as an advertising copywriter, seaman, lecturer, television presenter and founder of Brummels Gallery of Photography, Australia's first dedicated photography gallery, where he established both a photographic studio and an agency dedicated to his work, published 17 photographic books, and held numerous exhibitions in Australia and overseas.
George Hallett was a South African photographer known for images of South African exiles. His body of work captures much of the country's turbulent history through Apartheid and into the young democracy.
Amish romance is a literary subgenre of Christian fiction featuring Amish characters, but written and read mostly by evangelical Christian women. An industry term for Amish romance novels is "bonnet rippers" because most feature a woman in a bonnet on the cover, and "bonnet ripper" is a play on the term "bodice ripper" from classic romance novels.
Marama Kahu Fox is a former New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand parliament at the 2014 general election as a representative of the Māori Party. Following her election to parliament, she was named Māori Party co-leader alongside Te Ururoa Flavell, replacing party founder Tariana Turia.
Stephanie Dowrick is an Australian writer, Interfaith Minister and social activist. She is the author of more than 20 books of fiction and non-fiction, five of them best-sellers. She was a publisher in Australia and the UK, where she co-founded The Women's Press, London.
Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence (2004) is a daily devotional book written by Christian author Sarah Young and published by Byron Williamson at Integrity Publishers, based in Brentwood, TN. Two years later, in September 2006, Integrity, along with its catalog of books, including Jesus Calling, were bought by Thomas Nelson. The book offers readers a 365-day personal spiritual journey intended to help the reader experience a deeper relationship with Jesus. The book was inspired, in part, by Sarah Young's reading of a related book, God Calling, authored by A. J. Russell. According to Publishers Weekly, Jesus Calling had sold 30 million copies as of 2015.
Ruth Seopedi Motau is a South African photographer currently living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. Motau was the first black female photographer who was employed by a South African newspaper as photo editor. Her photography focuses on social documentary influenced by photojournalism and the marginalisation of black people and communities.
Live to Lead is a 2022 American documentary series set for streaming on Netflix. It was released on December 31, 2022.