Grace Kim moved to South Africa at the age of 2, and has considered this country home ever since. Having drifted in the Stellenbosch University English Department corridors from first year to Masters, she now finds herself a proud alumnus. Her hobbies are eating poets for breakfast, finding one-line treasures, and composing third-person biographies. Read more: http://about.me/gracekim or follow her on http://www.twitter.com/gracefaceza

Petrus du Preez ontvang sy B.A. Kommunikasiekunde graad aan die Universiteit van die Vrystaat. Daarna begin hy met sy nagraadse studies aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch waar hy sy M.Dram en D.Phil in Drama en Teaterstudie ontvang. Tussendeur die studies is hy in verskillende gedaantes by die teater betrokke. As akteur was hy onder andere te sien in Maria de Buenos Aires, A Midsummernight's Dream, die Aardklop speelvak van Romeo + Julia (studie van 'n verdrinkende liggaam) en As Mure kon praat, Slaghuis, Die Storm en Lawwe Geluide en Derde Party en Diensmeisies. As mede-regisseur was hy betrokke by produksies soos Moeders en Dogters, Toorberg en Want kyk, die Bruidegom is hier. Hy skryf ook vir die teater en spesialiseer in kinderproduksies en poppeteater. Een van sy kinderstukke Die Slapende Skoonheid waarvan hy die teks geskryf het en die regie behartig het, ontvang die Kanna vir Kinderteater by die ABSA-KKNK in 2008. Hy is tans 'n senior lektor aan die Drama Departement by Universiteit Stellenbosch en mede-redakteur van die South African Theatre Journal.

Lucy Valerie Graham grew up in the Eastern Cape. She has a doctorate in South African literature from Oxford University, and her book, State of Peril: Race and Rape in South African Literature, is forthcoming from OUP in 2012. She lectures at Stellenbosch University.

Joan Helene Hambidge is op 11 September 1956 op Aliwal-Noord gebore. Sy matrikuleer aan die Hoërskool Standerton. In 1979 verwerf sy haar BA Honneursgraad aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch. Sy voltooi haar MA-graad aan die Universiteit van Pretoria onder leiding van prof. Elize Botha en verwerf ’n PhD aan die Universiteit van Rhodes onder prof. André P. Brink se leiding. Sy is dosent en later ook hoogleraar aan die Universiteit van die Noorde, en sedert 1992 is sy verbonde aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad. In 2001 behaal Joan haar tweede doktorsgraad, dié keer in kultuurstudies, aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad. Sy is tans ’n professor in Afrikaans en Kreatiewe Skryfwerk aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad. Joan debuteer in 1985 met die bundel, Hartskrif , en ontvang die Eugène Marais-prys in 1986 vir haar tweede bundel Bitterlemoene. Haar 23ste digbundel, Visums by verstek, het in 2011 verskyn.

Andrea Buchanan grew up in Port Elizabeth, and completed a Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies, as well as her Honours in English, at Rhodes University. After working for several years as a copywriter and proofreader, she is now an MA student at Stellenbosch University’s English department. Her MA dissertation will be focused on Justin Cartwright’s novels set in England.

Hedley Twidle grew up in Namaqualand and outside Johannesburg, studied at Oxford, Edinburgh and York, and is now a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Cape Town. His research interests include: South African literature, history and performance culture; environmentalism, literature and ecocriticism in a postcolonial context; the relation between the colonial archive and the contemporary writer. For the last few years he has also worked as a researcher and copy-editor on (as well as contributor to) a forthcoming Cambridge History of South African Literature (2012), edited by David Attwell and Derek Attridge. His doctoral work explored the difficult relation between natural and social histories at the Cape, and has been developed into a monograph titled Sea | Point | Contact: Cape Town, Natural History and the Literary Imagination. His current project concerns the current popularity of ‘creative’ or ‘literary’ non-fiction in South Africa. Further details about his academic (and other) writing can be found at the following websites: Hedley Twidle at the department of English sea | point | contact

Most of Karen Scherzinger’s life is divided between being Chair of the Department of English at the University of Johannesburg, and mother to three teenagers. She has a lifelong passion for the work of Henry James; she has also written on the work of Don DeLillo, Yann Martel, Kazuo Ishiguro, Michiel Heyns and Colm Toíbín.

Margaret Orr works at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she is Director of the Centre for Learning, Teaching, and Development. She is a former professor of English for specific purposes.

Leila Bloch has a degree in Drama and English from UCT. Since then she’s been involved in a number of writing projects including performing her poetry in Cape Town and reviewing local theatre and music for Mahala.

Karlien van der Schyff lives in Cape Town. She dreams about dismantling patriarchy, finishing her PhD and little pink cupcakes, but not always in that order.

Jonathan Amid was born in Jerusalem but grew up in the coffee shops of Stellenbosch. He finds writing about himself in the third person a curious activity, and avoids literary incidents with dogs in the night. After completing an MA on the works of Michael Ondaatje in 2010 and several years as an English tutor, his future plans lean towards a generous helping of reading and writing – for business and pleasure – on South African crime writing, and continuing to explore the relationship between imagination, books and bodies.

Suzy Bell has an MA in Creative Writing from UCT. A performance art poet, cultural activist, picture comic book author, festival director and founder of African Artists Unite as One and the Amani Arts Festival in Khayelitsha, celebrating cultural diversity, she makes a modest living as a weekly arts columnist and wine blogger. www.isuzybell.tumblr.com Twitter: @isuzybell She is a winner of the Impress Writers Short Story Competition and was selected as a writer for the first online: LITNET Literary Writer’s Conference opened by Nelson Mandela. She was a selected writer to take part in the SA New Plays Programme sponsored by Wits & The British Council at this year’s National Arts Festival.

Andries Visagie is sedert 2011 professor in Afrikaanse en Nederlandse letterkunde aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Hy is gebore in Kaapstad, word groot in Stellenbosch en studeer later aan die Universiteite van Stellenbosch en Utrecht. In 2004 promoveer hy onder die leiding van Louise Viljoen met ’n studie, Manlike subjektiwiteit in die Afrikaanse prosa vanaf 1980-2000. Hy was vantevore as dosent in Afrikaans en Nederlands verbonde aan die Universiteite van Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal en Unisa. Sy navorsingsbelangstelling is veral gerig op die Afrikaanse en Nederlandse prosa met toespitsing op gender, outobiografiese tekste en globalisering. Artikels van hom verskyn in vaktydskrifte soos Stilet, Tydskrif vir letterkunde, Tydskrif vir Nederlands en Afrikaans en Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap. Tans is hy die resensieredakteur van Tydskrif vir letterkunde. Sy huidige navorsing is veral gerig op eietydse utopiese en distopiese prosatekste binne die konteks van globalisering, tekste wat gereeld ’n uitdaging stel aan die globale kapitalisme. Een van sy mees resente publikasies verskyn in die boek Criticism, Crisis, and Contemporary Narrative. Textual Horizons in an Age of Global Risk (Routledge, 2011) met Paul Crosthwaite as redakteur. As resensent lewer Andries Visagie gereeld bydraes oor die Afrikaanse prosa en poësie. Verder is hy ondervoorsitter van die Afrikaanse letterkundevereniging en voorsitter van die Noordelike Kennisnetwerk vir Neerlandistiek.

Sean O’Toole is a Cape Town-based journalist, art critic and writer. Formerly the editor of the magazine Art South Africa (2004-10), he writes a bi-monthly art column for frieze magazine (London) and is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times and Mail & Guardian. In 2006 he published an (“uneven”) collection of short stories, The Marquis of Mooikloof and Other Stories , which included a story that won the 2006 HSBC/SA PEN Literary Award. He has contributed to various books and catalogues, including The World Belongs to You (Palazzo Grassi/Electa, 2011), Alias (Photomonth in Krakow, 2011), Ampersand - A Dialogue of Contemporary Art from South Africa & the Daimler Art Collection (Hirmer Verlag, Berlin, 2010), Positions (Goethe-Institut/Akademie der Kunst, Berlin, 2010), Lyon Biennial 2007: The History of a Decade That Has Not Been Named (JRP/Ringier, 20007) and Ghetto (Trolley Books, 2004). He recently collaborated with artists Lisa Brice, Joachim Schonfeldt and Malcolm Payne on a series of ficto-critical short fictions.

Chris Dunton was born in the UK and educated at Oxford. He has taught in universities in Nigeria, Libya and South Africa and is currently Professor of Literature in English at the National University of Lesotho. He has published widely on African literature and is the author of a short story collection, Boxing (African Books Collective).

Danson S. Kahyana is a PhD student in the English Department, Stellenbosch University. He has published poems and short stories in anthologies and a children’s novel, Biira’s Success, that has been translated into Kinyarwanda. He teaches in the Literature Department, Makerere University.

Willem Anker doseer skeppende skryfkunde en Afrikaanse letterkunde aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch. Hy is die skrywer die roman Siegfried en dramatekste soos Skroothonde, Slaghuis, Sakrament en Skrapnel.

Dawn Promislow was born and raised in South Africa, and has lived in Toronto since 1987. Her collection Jewels and Other Stories was published in 2010. One of the collection's stories was short-listed for UK-based Wasafiri's New Writing Prize 2009, while the title story was anthologized in TOK: Writing the New Toronto, Book 5. Jewels and Other Stories was launched in South Africa at Open Book Cape Town in September of this year, and was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award 2011.

Kavish is a career alcoholic who can most often be found dimly secreting consciousness in a nearby gutter.

Lara Buxbaum is a PhD candidate at Wits University. She has experience teaching English as a second language to post-matric students and is an associate editor for the journal English Studies in Africa.

Emma is completing her Phd at the University of Cape Town, in the English Department. Her doctoral research centres on postapartheid literary culture and urbanism. She is the managing editor of the Centre for African Studies' graduate journal, postamble. She teaches both at UCT and in a non-governmental education programme in Cape Town and works on a a variety of film and writing projects.

Mario Maccani was born and raised in Worcester. After high school he studied Fine Art at the Cape Technikon, and then completed a BA at the University of Cape Town, MA at the University of South Africa, and PhD at the University of Pretoria. He taught English and art in South Korea and Taiwan for twelve years. His interests are popular culture and art.

Kerneels Breytenbach het in 1974 by Beeld begin as vakansiewerker, en in 1976 voltyds by Beeld se kunsredaksie aangesluit. In September 1976 is hy oorgeplaas na Die Burger, waar hy 13 jaar in die Kunsredaksie gedien het, 7 daarvan as Kunsredakteur. In 1989 het hy by H&R aangesluit as Uitgewer: Algemene Publikasies, en Koos Human in 1995 opgevolg as Hoofbestuurder. Met die samevoeging van al Naspers se algemene uitgewerye om NB-Uitgewers te vorm in 2001, het hy Publikasiehoof van dié groep geword, wat hy gebly het tot sy aftrede in 2009. Hy was van 1980 tot 1994 Huisgenoot se popmusiek-skrywer, en was vir sy termyn by Die Burger ook dié koerant se pop-kritikus.

Marie Jorritsma completed her PhD in ethnomusicology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in 2006 and is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her monograph, "Sonic Spaces of the Karoo: The Sacred Music of a South African Coloured Community" has recently been published by Temple University Press.

Bill Nasson was born in 1952 in Cape Town. He is the author of several history books and a Professor of History at Stellenbosch University.

S J Naudé studeer voorgraads in Pretoria en nagraads aan Cambridge en Columbia Universiteit. Ná jare as regspraktisyn in New York en Londen keer hy in 2010 terug na Suid-Afrika vir 'n meestersgraad in kreatiewe skryfkunde aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch. In 2011 debuteer hy met 'n bundel verhale getiteld Alfabet van die Voëls. Hy woon tans in Kaapstad.

Until 31 December 2011, Director of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA), which is a Research Unit in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. Since 1994, PRAESA has focused on language policy in education with special reference to multilingual education and first-language (conventionally, mother-tongue) medium. In this capacity, Alexander has played a key role as advisor on language policy to various government departments. This culminated in him being asked in November 1995 by the then Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology to chair a Language Plan Task Group (LANGTAG) which had to draw up the outline for a national language plan. This plan has served as guideline for legislation pertaining to language issues. Until March 1998, he was also Vice-Chairperson of the Pan South African Language Board. In the period November 1999-December 2003, he was Convenor of a Special Advisory Panel on Language Policy to the Minister of Arts and Culture. Until December 2005, he was a member the Western Cape Language Committee since its inception. He is a member of the Interim Governing Board of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN). He has written many books and articles and writes regularly on issues of ethnic and racial prejudice and on the politics of identity.

Sarah Emily Duff is an NRF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her research project, ‘Imperial Babies: Mothercraft and the Politics of Childhood in the British Empire’, considers the global impact of the Mothercraft Movement between the two World Wars. She is interested in histories of age, the body, food, and consumerism. Sarah also volunteers for Right2Know, a freedom of information campaign.

Charl-Pierre Naudé has had two volumes of Afrikaans poetry published: Die Nomadiese Oomblik (Tafelberg, 1995) and In die geheim van die dag (Protea, 2005). The first received the Ingrid Jonker Prize in 1997. The second was awarded the M-Net Prize for Afrikaans Poetry in 2005 and the Protea Prize in the same year. Naudé’s first English volume of poetry, Against the light, apeared late in 2007. In 2009 a limited bibliophile edition of some poems appeared in a Dutch/Afrikaans bilingual presentation. He works as a freelance journalist and is a regular columnist for the Afrikaans daily newspaper, Beeld.

Jacomien van Niekerk is ’n lektor in die Departement Afrikaans aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Sy bied kursusse in Afrikaanse poësie, prosa en drama aan. Haar navorsingsbelangstellings sluit Afrikaanse drama, orale literatuur en die werk van Antjie Krog in. Sy is tans besig met ’n DLitt-proefskrif oor Antjie Krog.

Anneke Villet studied to become an actress, but then didn't. She now works as a writer, script editor and producer at Light & Dark Films in Cape Town, which is great, because she gets to learn something new every day and wear whatever she wants to work. In her free time she likes to watch American cable television, drink wine and talk about cinema.

My name is Tembi Charles. Born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Currently a student of English Literary Studies at the University of Stellenbosch. I have an insatiable curiosity so I am happiest when I am exposed to new knowledge, different people and surroundings. The library is my second home, although very often you will find me in a coffee shop “people watching”. I love reading but there are not enough hours in the day for that! My favourite authors are William Faulkner and closer to home, Chinua Achebe and J M Coetzee. Like everyone I know, I hope to publish “the” novel someday soon!