Fourthwall Books was established in Johannesburg in 2010 by writer and editor Bronwyn Law-Viljoen and designer Oliver Barstow. Our aim was to publish art books that were out of the ordinary — provocative, insightful, experimental, well designed, interesting to read, gratifying to hold and look at. Since then, the company has produced almost fifty titles, several of which have earned local and international awards for their excellent design and writing. Our books have contributed to debates on many pressing issues facing South Africa, and we have been recognised for our distinctive approach to art and photography book publishing. In 2015, Terry Kurgan joined the company and, with our second designer Carla Saunders, has helped to produce several new titles, including Hanging on a Wire, the acclaimed series Wake Up, This is Joburg, and her own Everyone is Present. Under the direction of Law-Viljoen and Kurgan, Fourthwall Books has continued to publish books that reflect the founding values of the company.
Awards
The 2010 Jane Jacobs best Urban Book Award (New York) for Lindsay Bremner’s Writing the City into Being
The 2011 Antalis Book Design Award for Oliver Barstow and Bronwyn Law-Viljoen’s Fire Walker
The 2015 Jan Rabie Rapport Prize for Non-Fiction for Stephanus Muller’s Nagmusiek
The 2015 KykNet Rapport Prize for Fiction for Stephanus Muller’s Nagmusiek
The 2016 Eugene Marais Prize for Stephanus Muller’s Nagmusiek
The 2018 NIHSS Award for Non-Fiction for Rick Rhode’s Hanging on a Wire
The 2019 Alan Paton Sunday Times Award for Non-Fiction for Terry Kurgan’s Everyone is Present, which was also a 2019 National Jewish Book Awards finalist (New York), and on the shortlist of the 2019 Photo-Arles Book Prize
