Writing

Routledge, 2024

The Documentary Filmmaker’s Intuition

Creating Ethical and Impactful Non-Fiction Films

An introduction to the art and craft of documentary filmmaking with a focus on ethics and impact from development through distribution. Walsh explores point-of-view storytelling, writing for non-fiction, and the art of social change documentary.

Offering an overview of the whole process, from idea to pitch to a final film and impact campaign, the book gives non-fiction filmmakers the methods to find a voice, style and cinematic approach.

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Jacana, 2022. Edited by Shannon Walsh, Claudia Mitchell and Mandla Oliphant

In My Life

Stories from Young Activists in South Africa, 2002–2022

As the early post-apartheid enthusiasm and activism transformed, stories became a place to find solace and refuge, or ways to be connected again. The stories in In My Life reflect the shifting times in South Africa and the complicated everyday lives of artists, writers, activists, researchers and teachers.

“A stunning exposition of ethnography-of-(e)motion as the South African transition dead-ends at the top and ignites from below.”

Ashwin Desai, author of We are the Poors

“Their stories of ordinary nearness, of friendship, risk, trust, hurt and trying again convey the vital possibilities of everyday realities in South Africa.”

Gabeba Baderoon, author of Regarding Muslims

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Wits University Press, 2016. Edited by Shannon Walsh and Jon Soske

Ties that Bind

Race and the Politics of Friendship in South Africa

What does friendship have to do with racial difference, settler colonialism and post-apartheid South Africa? Ties that Bind explores how the intimacies of friendship create vital spaces for practices of both power and resistance. Combining interviews, history, poetry, visual arts, memoir and academic essay, the collection keeps alive the promise of friendship.

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