Sahm Venter
Based in: County Down, Northern Ireland
Professional memberships
EPANI (Editors’ and Proofreaders’ Alliance of Northern Ireland)
Educational qualifications
BA (Sociology & Southern African Economic History), 1986
MA (with distinction) Journalism & Media Studies, 2005
Training and professional development
1981–1983 South African Associated Newspapers Cadet Journalism course
1992 Scriptwriting for Film and Television
Languages
Basic French, isiZulu, isiXhosa, and Afrikaans
Experience
Full-time journalist from 1981 to 1985. Reporting, writing and sub-editing for South African newspapers.
From 1988 to 2002 reporting and writing for the international media, including 14 years with The Associated Press.
Freelance editing and proofreading 1985 to 1986 and from 2002 to 2006 for the Cape Times, ebooks&writers.com, Jacana publishers and The Associated Press.
Freelance writing for Tribute Magazine, the Belfast Telegraph, Scotland on Sunday and The Age. From 2006 to 2019 research, writing and editing for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Services offered
Editing, proofreading, copy-editing, rewriting
Media
Books, press releases, website material, articles, exhibitions, speeches, documentaries
Subject areas
Non-fiction, biography, autobiography, memoir, corporate journalism
Clients include
Blackwell & Ruth, Jacana Media, EveryOnes World
Examples of work undertaken
Editor – Prison Letters (Liveright, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, New York and London, 2019).
Editor – The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela (Liveright, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, New York and London, 2018).
Co-editor (with Vimla Naidoo) – I Remember Nelson Mandela (Jacana, Johannesburg, 2018).
Co-author (with Ahmed Kathrada) – Conversations with a Gentle Soul (Pan Macmillan, Johannesburg, 2017).
Co-editor (with Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela) – 491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69, Picador Africa, Johannesburg, 2012).
Co-editor (with Sello Hatang) – Notes to the Future (Atria Books, New York, 2012).
Co-editor (with Sello Hatang) – Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations (Pan Macmillan, Johannesburg 2011).
Author – Our National Days (boxed set of seven educational books), (Jacana, Johannesburg, 2005–2008).
Editor – A Free Mind: Ahmed Kathrada’s Notebook from Robben Island (Jacana, Johannesburg, 2005).
Co-editor (with Claude Colart) – Something to Write Home About: Reflections from the Heart of History (Jacana, Johannesburg, 2004).
Testimonials
‘[Sahm’s] work is of an extremely high standard.’ – Maggie Davey, Jacana
‘I have no hesitation in recommending Sahm.’ – Ruth Hobday, Blackwell&Ruth