Finuala Dowling was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1962, the seventh child in a family of eight. She started to write poetry only once she turned 40, but has since become one of her country’s most popular poets and novelists (her fourth novel, The Fetch, won the 2016 Herman Charles Bosman prize and was described by reviewer Dineke Volschenk as a book that 'in years to come, will bear testimony to the maturity and intelligence of South African culture and literature'). Finuala divides her time between writing and her role as senior lecturer in the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies at the University of Cape Town, where she is part of a team that organises its annual Summer School. She lives in the seaside town of Muizenberg with her sister Cara. She has a daughter, Beatrice, who also writes poetry. Her first UK publication, Pretend You Don’t Know Me: New and Selected Poems, was launched by Bloodaxe with a series of readings across the North of England in October 2018.
Author photo: Deborah da Silva
