Richard Mason

Richard Mason (South Africa) has been a much-discussed figure since his debut novel Verloren zielen (1999). His British publisher acquired the debut when Mason was nineteen years old, and speculation about the size of the advance even reached BBC’s Newsnight. The book eventually sold six million copies and was translated into 22 languages.

Mason donated a large part of the proceeds to his Kay Mason Foundation, named after his deceased sister. The foundation provides education for talented, underprivileged South African children and has Archbishop Desmond Tutu as its patron.

Mason himself was born in South Africa and spent his childhood there. His connection to the country is also evident in his new novel Verlichte kamers (May 2008), a story about history, duty and family, shifting in time between London and South Africa.