Peter Auf Der Heyde

Peter has over 30 years of experience as a journalist and photographer, specializing in sports and the anti-Apartheid struggle. His career in sports journalism led him to establish and publish the South African Soccer Yearbook for eight years, while also serving as Editor-in-Chief of Soccer News. As an activist, he founded the anti-Apartheid Abany News Agency and worked for an anti-Apartheid photo agency, documenting the struggle for justice through his lens and words.

In 2003, Peter left South Africa to take up a position as Head of Sport for the International News in English division of the German Press Agency (dpa). During this time, he covered 12 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, multiple FIFA World Cups, the Asian Games, and numerous other global sporting events.

His academic pursuits reflect his deep engagement with the intersection of sport, society, and media. In 2015, he was one of only 20 students worldwide accepted into the prestigious MA in Olympic Studies program at Tsukuba University in Japan. However, that same year, he chose to transition into academia, accepting a teaching position at Southampton Solent University, where he joined the sports journalism faculty.

At Solent, Peter has played a pivotal role in curriculum development. In his first year, he authored two modules—Literary Journalism and Transferable Skills—both of which he has been teaching ever since. While originally offered as elective courses, Transferable Skills has since become a core component of the curriculum. His expertise in literary journalism extends beyond the classroom, as he is an active member of the International Association of Literary Journalism Studies and a regular presenter at its annual conference.

Currently, Peter teaches a range of academic and practical modules, including Sport, Media and Society, Sport, Globalisation and Mega-Events, Transferable Skills, Investigative Journalism, and two creative writing components: Literary Journalism and Travel Journalism.

His research interests lie in the politics and sociology of sport, as well as justice and human rights. This focus has culminated in his forthcoming book, Death in Pretoria: Untold Stories of Political Activists During Apartheid, which explores political judicial executions. The book will be published by Penguin Random House in May/June 2025. He previously had Has Anybody Got a Whistle: A Football Reporter in Africa published by Parrs Wood Press (2005).

BOOKS

Auf der Heyde, P. Forthcoming, 2025. Death in Pretoria: Untold Stories of Political Activists Executed during Apartheid. Penguin/Random House

Auf der Heyde, P. (2002) Has Anybody Got a Whistle; A Football Reporter In Africa. Parrs Wood Press

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Auf der Heyde, P. Forthcoming 2023. Mdantsane: The Unlikely Mecca of South African Boxing The International Journal of the History of Sports

Auf der Heyde, P. 2022. Sports Correspondent, Unsuccessful Novelist, Accidental German Sports Literary Journalist: The Strange Arc of Ronald Reng Literary Journalism Studies. 14:2

Auf der Heyde, P. and Desai, A. 1990. Unions, Employers and the MDM South African Labour Bulletin. 14:7, 36-43.

Auf der Heyde, P. and Desai, A. 1990. Gqozo: Pretoria’s puppet or MDM’s man Work In Progress. 75, 13-17.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Auf der Heyde, P. (2023) On Death Row: Giving Voice to Apartheid’s Forgotten Prisoners. In D Swick and R Keeble, eds. Literary Journalism Goes Inside Prison: Just Sentences and the editors. Routledge.

CONFERENCES

On Death Row: Giving Voice to Apartheid’s Forgotten Prisoners (IALJS, Gdansk)

Beautiful Words for the Beautiful Game – literary sports journalism and football (IALJS, Gdansk, Forthcoming 2023)

The dead don’t speak: Turning numbers into literary journalism (IALJS, Santiago, 2022)

An oasis in the desert: The prison writing of Herman Charles Bosman (IALJS, Santiago, 2022)

Photograph and Resistance (University of Brighton, Brighton 2019)

When two genres meet: Lyrical Literary Journalism (IALJS, New York, 2019)

The South African Sports Struggle and Nationalism; Grahamstown – Case Study (University of Vic, Vic, 2017)

Winning with you ancestors (University of Bath, Bath, 2015)

Muti Killings in South Africa (Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, 2014)

Peter’s research interests include the politics and sociology of sports, in particular football, as well as human rights and the criminal (in)justice system, with a special focus on the US and Apartheid South Africa. Through his involvement with the University of Johannesburg and the University of Vic, he has attempted to foster trans-national University relationships.