Christopher Nicholson practised as a human rights lawyer, assisting victims of apartheid, prior to the first democratic elections in 1994. His efforts were recognised with two awards and he was appointed a High Court judge in 1995. He has published several books: Permanent Removal: Who Killed the Cradock Four?, Papwa Sewgolum: From Pariah to Legend, Richard and Adolf: Did Richard Wagner incite Adolf Hitler to commit the Holocaust? and One Hand Washes the Other. The first two were nominated for the Alan Paton Prize for non-fiction. No Sacred Cows, his collection of short stories, was published in 2014.
