Rose Zwi is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n writer best known for her work about the immigrants in that country. Born in Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, to Jewish refugees from Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, her family moved to South Africa when she was a young girl. In 1967 Zwi graduated from the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) with a BA (Hons) in English Literature.

Zwi lived briefly in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, but returned to South Africa until 1988 when she relocated to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. She became an Australian citizen in 1992 and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

.

Awards

• 1982 - Winner of the Olive Schreiner Prize
  Olive Schreiner Prize
  The Olive Schreiner Prize is an annual award to new and emergent talent administered by the English Academy of South Africa.-Award winners:*2010 Poetry Finuala Dowling Notes from the Dementia Ward*2009 Prose Michael Cawood Green For The Sake of Silence...
  
   for Another Year in Africa - a prize for new and emerging writers.
• 1994 - Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
  Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
  The Australian Human Rights Commission is a national human rights institution, a statutory body funded by, but operating independently of, the Australian Government. It has the responsibility for investigating alleged infringements under Australia’s anti-discrimination legislation...
  
   Fiction Award for Safe Houses

Works

• Another Year in Africa (Bateleur Press, c1980)
• The Inverted Pyramid : a Novel (Ravan Press, 1981)
• Exiles: A Novel (AD. Donker, 1984)
• The Umbrella Tree (Penguin, 1990)
• Safe Houses (Spinifex, 1993)
• Last Walk in Naryshkin Park (Spinifex Press, 1997)Spinifex Press review
• Speak the Truth, Laughing nine stories and a novella, House Arrest (Spinifex, 2002)API Review
• Once Were Slaves (Sydney Jewish Museum
  Sydney Jewish Museum
  The Sydney Jewish Museum is a museum in Sydney, Australia, which documents the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish people in Australia.-History and description:...
  
  , 2010)