Sean O’Toole

Journalist

Born in 1968 in Pretoria, Sean O’Toole is a Cape Town-based journalist and writer. Formerly editor of Art South Africa, a quarterly print magazine focusing on contemporary South African and African art, he also writes a weekly column on photography for the Sunday Times and a biweekly art column for the Financial Mail. His journalism has appeared in, among other titles, BBC Focus on Africa, Colors, Creative Review, Eye, frieze, GEO, ID and Kyoto Journal. A former editor of artthrob.co.za, he guest edited a 2002 edition of Design Indaba magazine. His writings and essays have appeared in a number of books. These include Ghetto (2004) by photographers Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin; Joburg Circa Now (2004) by Terry Kurgan and Jo Ractliffe; My Dad (2006), a collection of essays on fatherhood; These Are a Few of Our Favourite Things (2007), a jointly authored studio retrospective profiling design agency Disturbance; and The Ceramic Art of Robert Hodgins (2007), a profile of well-known painter Robert Hodgins. A published short story writer, his debut collection, The Marquis of Mooikloof and Other Stories (Double Storey, 2006), included a short fiction awarded the 2006 HSBC/SA PEN Literary Award, judged by JM Coetzee. O’Toole holds separate degrees in English literature, law and creative writing.