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In the mid-1970s, on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela wrote at night. Each morning his pages went to fellow prisoners Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada for comments, then to Mac Maharaj, who copied them out in tiny handwriting. Guards later found the original buried in the prison garden, but Maharaj’s copy left the island with him in 1976 and reached London the next year. It became the core of Long Walk to Freedom, published in 1994, the year Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected president. Most of his other books are his own words gathered by others: speeches, trial statements, letters, notebooks. This guide covers his 9 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 9 key books · 1965–2018 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Nelson Mandela wrote one full autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom (1994), and began a second, Dare Not Linger (2017), completed after his death by Mandla Langa. The other key books collect his speeches, notes and letters, including No Easy Walk to Freedom (1965), Conversations with Myself (2010) and The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela (2018). Start with Long Walk to Freedom; the later books fill in what it leaves out.
Where to Start with Nelson Mandela
If you want his own account of his life
→ Long Walk to Freedom (1994) — childhood to release, begun in prison.
If you want the private man behind the icon
→ Conversations with Myself (2010) — notebooks, letters and recorded conversations.
If you want the prison years in his own words
→ The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela (2018) — 255 letters written over 27 years.
If you want the presidency
→ Dare Not Linger (2017) — the sequel he began but did not finish.
9 Nelson Mandela Books, in Order
No Easy Walk to Freedom
Edited by the journalist and activist Ruth First and published in 1965, the year after Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. It gathers his articles, speeches and trial addresses from the 1950s and early 1960s, when he was a lawyer and ANC leader. An updated edition appeared in 2002.
The Struggle Is My Life
His speeches and writings, brought together by the International Defence and Aid Fund to mark his 60th birthday in 1978, while he was on Robben Island. Later editions added material from the years after.
Long Walk to Freedom
His life from a childhood in the Thembu royal household, through Fort Hare, the ANC, the Rivonia Trial and 27 years in prison, to his release in 1990. He began it in secret on Robben Island; after his release he completed it with the American journalist Richard Stengel. It won the Alan Paton Award in 1995 and was filmed in 2013 as Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, with Idris Elba.
Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography
A shorter, illustrated edition of Long Walk to Freedom, published by Little, Brown in 1996, which sets an abridged text alongside photographs of the people and places in the book.
Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales
Thirty-two stories from across Africa, chosen by Mandela and published by W. W. Norton. The audiobook, read by actors including Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Don Cheadle and Blair Underwood, was nominated for the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2010.
In His Own Words
A large selection of his speeches and writings, mostly from after his release, edited by Kader Asmal, David Chidester and Wilmot James. It covers the negotiations, the presidency and the causes he took up afterwards.
Conversations with Myself
Drawn from his private archive with his blessing: prison notebooks, calendars, letters, drafts of an unpublished sequel and transcripts of recorded conversations. It appeared in October 2010 in 20 languages, with a foreword by Barack Obama, and shows a man who insisted he was not a saint. Proceeds went to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Dare Not Linger
The sequel to Long Walk to Freedom, named after its closing line. Mandela wrote ten chapters by hand between 1998 and 2002, then stopped; the novelist Mandla Langa completed the book from his drafts, notes and new interviews. It covers his term as president from 1994 to 1999 and has a prologue by Graça Machel.
The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
255 letters from his 27 years in four prisons, edited by Sahm Venter and published for the centenary of his birth in 2018. They are written to his wife, children, friends and officials. Many never reached the person they were addressed to, but Mandela kept copies, often word for word, in his notebooks.
In What Order to Read Nelson Mandela
Read Long Walk to Freedom first: it is the only complete life he wrote, and the later books assume you know the outline. After that, the order depends on what you want. The Prison Letters and Conversations with Myself go back over the same years in rawer form, and Dare Not Linger continues the story into the presidency.
The speech collections, from No Easy Walk to Freedom to In His Own Words, are better dipped into than read straight through. Start with the 1964 statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial, which is reprinted in most of them.
A reading path
1. Long Walk to Freedom (1994)
2. The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela (2018)
3. Conversations with Myself (2010)
4. Dare Not Linger (2017)
5. No Easy Walk to Freedom (1965)
Other Collections of Mandela’s Speeches
Beyond the 9 key books: 4 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Speeches and statements
4
4 books · 1970–1993
- 1970I Am Prepared to Diehis Rivonia Trial statement as a pamphlet
- 1990Nelson Mandela, Speeches 1990“Intensify the Struggle to Abolish Apartheid”, edited by Greg McCartan
- 1991How Far We Slaves Have Come!speeches on South Africa and Cuba
- 1993Nelson Mandela SpeaksForging a Democratic, Nonracial South Africa, edited by Steve Clark
The years · 1918–2013
Quick facts about Nelson Mandela
- Known for
- Leading the struggle against apartheid, spending 27 years in prison, and becoming South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994.
- 1918
- Born in Mvezo, Eastern Cape
- 1964
- Sentenced to life at the Rivonia Trial
- 2013
- Dies in Johannesburg, aged 95
- Born
- 18 July 1918, Mvezo, in what is now the Eastern Cape
- Education
- University College of Fort Hare; law at the University of the Witwatersrand
- Prison
- 1962–1990; Robben Island 1964–1982, then Pollsmoor and two other prisons
- Nobel Peace Prize
- 1993, shared with F. W. de Klerk
- President
- South Africa, 1994–1999
- Died
- 5 December 2013, Johannesburg
The red mark is 1994: Long Walk to Freedom is published and Mandela becomes president.
How Nelson Mandela Wrote: A Lawyer’s Voice, Shaped by Prison
Mandela trained as a lawyer, and it shows. His best-known text, the three-hour statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial in 1964, argues his case step by step, explains why the ANC turned to sabotage, and ends with the line that he was prepared to die for a free society. The speech collections are built around that kind of measured, reasoned address rather than rhetoric.
Prison shaped how he wrote. Letters were censored and limited in length, so he drafted them carefully and copied them into notebooks, which is why so many survive. Long Walk to Freedom itself was a collective effort: Sisulu and Kathrada commented on every page, Maharaj copied and smuggled it, and after 1990 Richard Stengel helped turn the prison manuscript and long interviews into a finished book.
In his own memoir he is restrained about his feelings and generous to opponents. The books published after his death, from Conversations with Myself to the Prison Letters, show more of the private man: his guilt about his family, his anger at prison authorities and his doubts.
Frequently asked questions about Nelson Mandela’s books
How many books has Nelson Mandela written?
He wrote one complete autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom (1994), and the first ten chapters of a second, Dare Not Linger (2017). Most other books under his name collect his speeches, letters and notes; the Nobel Prize bibliography lists 27 English titles up to 2010. This page covers his 9 key books.
What are Nelson Mandela’s books in order?
No Easy Walk to Freedom (1965), The Struggle Is My Life (1978), Long Walk to Freedom (1994), Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography (1996), Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales (2002), In His Own Words (2003), Conversations with Myself (2010), Dare Not Linger (2017) and The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela (2018).
Where should I start with Nelson Mandela?
With Long Walk to Freedom, the only complete account of his life he wrote. Follow it with The Prison Letters or Conversations with Myself for the private side.
What is Nelson Mandela’s most famous book?
Long Walk to Freedom (1994), his autobiography from his childhood to his release from prison in 1990. It won the Alan Paton Award in 1995 and was filmed in 2013.
Did Mandela write Long Walk to Freedom himself?
Yes, in large part. He wrote the first draft secretly on Robben Island in the mid-1970s, with comments from Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada. After his release he worked with the American journalist Richard Stengel, who interviewed him at length and helped shape the final book; The Times described the later chapters as ghosted.
How was the manuscript smuggled out of Robben Island?
Mac Maharaj transcribed Mandela’s pages in tiny handwriting and took the copy with him when he was released in 1976, hidden among his belongings. He fled to Britain in 1977. The original, buried in the prison garden, was found by guards.
Is there a film of Long Walk to Freedom?
Yes. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), directed by Justin Chadwick, stars Idris Elba as Mandela and Naomie Harris as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. U2’s song “Ordinary Love” from the film won a Golden Globe.
What is Dare Not Linger?
The sequel to Long Walk to Freedom, about his presidency from 1994 to 1999. Mandela wrote ten chapters between 1998 and 2002; after his death Mandla Langa completed it from his drafts and notes, and it was published in 2017.
Why was Nelson Mandela on a US terrorism watch list?
In 1961 he helped found the ANC’s armed wing, which carried out sabotage against the apartheid state, and he was convicted of sabotage at the Rivonia Trial in 1964. The United States, which treated the ANC as a terrorist organisation during the Cold War, kept Mandela on its terrorist watch lists until 2008, years after he had won the Nobel Peace Prize and served as president.
When did Nelson Mandela die?
On 5 December 2013 in Johannesburg, aged 95. Dare Not Linger and The Prison Letters were published after his death.
Footnotes
- Nelson Mandela — Bibliography, NobelPrize.org
- Nelson Mandela — Biographical, NobelPrize.org
- Long Walk to Freedom — Wikipedia
- Role revealed of Madiba’s comrades in Long Walk to Freedom — Nelson Mandela Foundation
- Sequel launched to Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom — IOL, 2017
- The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela — Library Journal
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
— Nelson Mandela, statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial, Pretoria (20 April 1964)
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