Zoë Wicomb was born in 1948 and raised in Namaqualand, South Africa. After 20 years of voluntary exile, she returned to South Africa in 1991 to teach at the University of the Western Cape. She currently lives in Glasgow and teaches at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. The author of several works of fiction and nonfiction, Wicomb was one of the first recipients of the Windham-Campbell Prizes in 2013.