Verne Harris

Verne Harris, Director of Archive and Dialogue at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, was Mandela’s archivist from 2004 to 2013.  He is an honorary research fellow with the University of Cape Town, participated in a range of structures which transformed South Africa’s apartheid archival landscape, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and is a former Deputy Director of the National Archives. 

Widely published, he is probably best-known for leading the editorial team on the best-seller Nelson Mandela: Conversations with Myself.  He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Cordoba in Argentina (2014), archival publication awards from Australia, Canada and South Africa, and both his novels were short-listed for South Africa’s M-Net Book Prize. 

He has served on the Boards of Archival Science, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, the Freedom of Expression Institute, and the South African History Archive.
verne@nelsonmandela.org