Photo by Adam Mays

b. 1990, Durban, South Africa
Based in Edinburgh, Scotland
LinkedIn page


Roles:


Qualifications:

  • PhD, English & Writing Practice, University of Dundee, 2024

  • MA, English Language & Literature, University of Cape Town, 2016

  • BA (Hons), Media Theory & Practice, University of Cape Town, 2011

  • BA, English and Journalism & Media Studies Rhodes University, 2010


Awards, scholarships and grants:

  • Winner: K. Sello Duiker Memorial Award, 2022, for A Hibiscus Coast

  • Winner: Nadine Gordimer Award, 2018, for The First Law of Sadness

  • Winner: Thomas Pringle Award for Short Story in Periodicals and Best Short Play, 2016, for “1-HR FOTO”

  • Winner: National Arts Festival Short Sharp Stories Awards, 2014, for “Turning”

  • Winner: South African Arts Journalism Awards Special Merit for Features, 2014, for “Vida Loves You”

  • Runner-up: Desperate Literature Award for Short Fiction, 2021, for “Section 22”

  • Nominee: South African National Arts & Culture Awards Outstanding Publisher Award, 2026, for uHlanga Press

  • Nominee: South African Arts Journalist of the Year, 2014 and 2015

  • Shortlisted: BBC National Short Story Award, 2023, for “The Storm”

  • Shortlisted: NIHSS Award for Best Poetry, 2023, for The Book of Unrest

  • Shortlisted: New Contrast National Poetry Prize, 2021

  • Shortlisted: Nadine Gordimer Award, 2017, for Stations

  • Shortlisted: White Review Prize, 2015, for “Posman”

  • Longlisted: Sunday Times Fiction Prize, 2024, for Tunnel

  • Longlisted: Sunday Times Fiction Prize, 2022, for A Hibiscus Coast

  • Longlisted: Edge Hill Prize, 2017, for Stations

  • Mail & Guardian Young South African, 2018

  • Skye Foundation Scholar, 2019–2024

  • Oppenheimer Memorial Trust grant, 2019–2024

  • Institute for Creative Arts grant, for production of biography at ICA Live Arts Festival, 2018

  • Mandela Rhodes Scholar, 2015–2016


Publications:

I am the author of a number of books of fiction. My writing – fiction, poetry and journalism – has appeared in various media around the world, including on BBC Radio 4, Radio 2000 (South Africa), and Citi FM (Ghana); in World Literature Today, The White Review, the Sunday Times, the Mail & Guardian, Chimurenga, Portside Review, The Johannesburg Review of Books, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. See writing and editing for more info.


Public engagement:

(This is an incomplete list.)

Lectures, seminars, etc.:

  • Zoë Wicomb Memorial Lecture, English Academy of South Africa, 1 December 2026 (forthcoming, online)

  • “How to Fail in Literature”, English Department seminar, Stellenbosch University, 16 February 2018

  • Art and Publishing lecture (representing Prufrock), David Krut Projects, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, 12 November 2015 (with Michael Tymbios, Caroline Mackintosh and Candice Jezek)

Interviews and panels:

  • Open Book Online 2025: uHlanga 10th anniversary conversation series, Open Book Festival (YouTube), April 2025 (four conversations, with Maneo Mohale, Jacques Coetzee, Athambile Masola and Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal)

  • Franschhoek Literary Festival 2024: Panelist on “Stuck in the Middle”, Hospice Hall, Franschhoek, 19 May 2024 (with Karen Jennings; chaired by Karina Szczurek); Panelist on “How to Grip”, Church Hall, Franschhoek, 19 May 2024 (with Femi Kayode and Fiona Snyckers; chaired by Danielle Weakley)

  • Interview with Reeta Chakrabarti alongside the reading of “The Storm”, BBC Radio 4, 14 September 2023

  • Novellfest 2022: Conversation on the art of short fiction, Litteraturhus Lund, Lund, Sweden, 11 September 2022 (with Siphiwo Mahala); Public author walks in the beech forest (författarvandringar), 12–20 September 2022

  • Panelist on “Transnational Africa: Print Culture, Adaptation, Translation”, Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation Research Centre, St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University, 14 June 2022

  • Panelist on “Nowhere to Nowhere”, Open Book podcast series, November 2021 (with Mandla Langa and Joanne Joseph; chaired by Yewande Omotoso)

  • Frankfurter Buchmesse 2018: Moderator of “Feminist Press reversing the gender bias” (French title: Quand l’édition féministe renverse la perception du genre), “Lettres d’Afrique”/African stage, Hall 5.1, stand B125, Frankfurt, 12 October 2018 (with Colleen Higgs (Modjaji Books), Mirline Pierre (Legs Éditions, Haiti) and Anne Migner-Laurin (Les Éditions du remue-ménage, Quebec))

  • Open Book Festival 2018: Host of “Dinner with Mariana”, 34 Camp Street (with Mariana Enriquez); Host of “Writersports: Cringe Factor”, Fugard Studio, 9 September 2018 (with Mohale Mashigo, Wamuwi Mbao, Mbongeni Nomkonwana, Ijangolet Ogwang, Adam Smyer and Zukiswa Wanner); Chair of “Magical stories”, Fugard Studio, 9 September 2018 (with Lesley Nneka Arimah, Mariana Enriquez and Mohale Mashigo)

  • Panelist on “Alternate Voices: Makhzin”, in conjunction with Publishing Against the Grain, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, 13 January 2018 (with Mirene Arsanios, Palesa Motsumi and Sven Christian)

  • Moderator of launch of Purity by Jonathan Franzen, Good Hope Seminary School, Cape Town, 3 November 2017 (with Jonathan Franzen)

  • Open Book Festival 2017: Panelist on “Magnifications of Life”, Homecoming Centre (HCC) Workshop, 9 September 2017 (with Hedley Twidle and Ken Liu; chaired by Rosa Lyster); Chair of “uHlanga Womxn”, HCC Workshop (with Rosa Lyster, Koleka Putuma and Francine Simon); Panelist on “Small Publishers”, A4 Arts Foundation (with Bronwyn Law-Viljoen and Dusanka Stojakovic; chaired by Mervyn Sloman)

  • Open Book Festival 2016: Chair of “What the Buzz”, Annexe 2, 6–7 pm (with Lauren Beukes, Sheila Heti and Alex van Tonder); Judge, on “Young Writers to Watch at Open Book” (PEN SA), Homecoming Centre, 7 September 2016, 8 pm (with Koleka Putuma and Puleng Lange-Stewart; chaired by Karina Szczurek)

  • Panelist on “Literary Crossroads: Nick Mulgrew & Martin Egblewogbe”, Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg, 7 September 2016

  • Franschhoek Literary Festival 2016, Franschhoek, 13–15 May: Panelist on “Writers of few(er) words”, 13 May 2016 (with Mark Winkler and Niq Mhlongo; chaired by Karina Szczurek); Poetry reading with Genna Gardini and Safia Elhillo (chaired by Finuala Dowling); Chair of a poetry reading with Beverly Rycroft and Eliza Kentridge; Speaker at Ingrid Jonker Prize ceremony, 14 May 2016

  • Launch of Adults Only (Short.Sharp.Stories), National Arts Festival, Rhodes Nuns Chapel, Grahamstown, 9 July 2014 (with Alexander Matthews, Joanne Hichens and Gill Rennie)

Readings:

  • Poetry in Translation, Typewronger, Edinburgh, 6 November 2026 (with Athambile Masola, Matthew James Appleby, Colin Bramwell, Gabrielle Tse and Cameron Clark)

  • Poetry on the Links, Bijou, Edinburgh, 2 April 2026 (with Tarn MacArthur, Gabrielle Tse and Matthew James Appleby)

  • Salon reading and book sale at Casa Brink, Cape Town, 9 September 2026

  • Open Book Festival 2025: uHlanga 10 Year Celebration, The Book Lounge, Cape Town, 6 September 2025 (with Athambile Masola, Maneo Mohale, Pieter Madibuseng Odendaal, Mthunzikazi Mbungwana and Manthipe Moila)

  • Gothenburg Book Fair/Bokmässan 2022: Poetry reading, Rum för poesi, 23 September 2022

  • Fiction reading of “Section 22”, Desperate Literature Award event, Burley Fisher Books, London, 21 November 2021 (with Paige Cowan-Hall)

  • Poetry in McGregor 2019: uHlanga reading, September 2019 (with Helen Moffett, Megan Ross and Francine Simon)

  • Performance of biography, The Moveable Feast, Kloof Nek Rd, Cape Town, 24 October 2018

  • Performance of biography, ICA Live Arts Festival, Hiddingh Campus, University of Cape Town, 15 September 2018

  • Performance of biography, Edge of Wrong Festival, Observatory, Cape Town, 19 April 2018

  • Poetry reading at Exclusive Books Cavendish Square, Cape Town, 11 February 2018 (with Rosa Lyster and Francine Simon)

  • Poetry reading at SA Book Fair, Newtown, Johannesburg, 8 September 2017 (with Phillippa Yaa de Villiers and Koleka Putuma)

  • Poetry reading from the myth of this is that we’re all in this together, Poetry in McGregor, McGregor, 26 August 2017

  • Fiction reading on radio, from “Smaller”, Writers Project of Ghana on Citi FM, Accra, 18 June 2017 (with Martin Egblewogbe)

  • Fiction reading from Stations and The First Law of Sadness, Bridge Books, Johannesburg, 2 May 2017

  • Fiction reading on radio, from “Athlone Towers”, 702 Radio Breakfast Show, Johannesburg, 29 April 2017

  • Poetry in McGregor 2016: Performance of biography, 28 August 2016

  • Poetry reading at David Krut Projects, Newlands, Cape Town, 19 April 2016 (with Genna Gardini)

  • Poetry Africa 2014: launch of and poetry reading from uHlanga issue 1, Durban, Rivertown Beer Hall, 18 October 2014 (with Sihle Ntuli, Joe Spirit, Bob Perfect and more)