Rian Malan

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Rian Malan is a South African author, journalist and songwriter of Afrikaner descent.

He is best known for his memoir of growing up in Apartheid-era South Africa, My Traitor's Heart, in which he explores along the way race relations through prominent murder cases. In addition, he reflects on the history of his family, a prominent Afrikaner clan which migrated to the Cape in the 16th century and most recently had provided the South African PM who was the principal ideological force behind Apartheid doctrine.

More recently, he wrote a widely-disseminated piece in Rolling Stone about the origin of the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, in which he traced its history from its first recording by a penniless Zulu singer through its adoption by the Weavers and the folksingers of the 1960s, and ending with its appropriation by the Walt Disney Company in the Lion King.

Aside from Tom Wolfe, he is the only writer to have featured on the cover of Esquire magazine.

Malan has also entered the AIDS debate. An article entitled "AIDS in Africa: In search of the truth" explored the word of estimates (which vary dramatically from organization to organization) that pass for AIDS statistics in Africa. Follow-up articles were published in December, 2003 in the Spectator ("Africa isn't dying of AIDS") and NoseWeek, a South African newsmagazine ("Apocalypse When?"). His hypothesis, based on an alleged misinterpretation of the statistics, was roundly criticised by national and international Aids organisations.