To spotlight South Africa’s diverse cultural heritage, which remains largely underrepresented, the Department of Sport, Art and Culture (DSAC) initiated the Living Human Treasures book series in 2018/19.
This series focuses on South Africans the DSAC identifies as “living human treasures” in the arts and culture space: artists, musicians, linguists, traditional healers and recognised practitioners of our country’s vast indigenous knowledge. Some are world famous, others not at all; what they have in common is a desire to practise and preserve the cultural and artistic traditions fundamental to South Africa’s diversity, and whose survival is threatened in our modern age.
The Living Human Treasures series of books aims to preserve memory, create a record of South Africa’s rich cultural legacy, and specifically introduce the books’ subjects to younger audiences, so that they may know and be proud of their heritage.
In 2023/24, we were commissioned to produce five books in the series.