Zoe Wicomb
Encyclopedia
Zoë Wicomb is an author.
She attended the University of the Western Cape
, and after graduating left South Africa for England in 1970, where she continued her studies at Reading University.
She lived in Nottingham
and Glasgow
and returned to South Africa in 1990, where she taught for three years in the department of English at the University of the Western Cape.
She gained attention in South Africa and internationally with her first work, a collection of short stories , You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (1987), which takes place during the apartheid era. Her second novel, David's Story (2000), takes place in 1991 toward the close of the apartheid era and explores racial identity. Playing in the Light, her third novel, released in 2006, covers similar terrain conceptually, though this time set in contemporary South Africa and centering around a white woman who learns that her parents actually belonged to the coloured
ethnic group.
She published her second collection of short stories, The One That Got Away. The stories, set mainly in Cape Town
and Glasgow, explore a range of human relationships: marriage, friendships, family ties or relations with servants.
Zoë Wicomb resides in Glasgow where she teaches creative writing
and post-colonial literature
at the University of Strathclyde
.
She attended the University of the Western Cape
University of the Western Cape
The University of the Western Cape is a public university located in the Bellville suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1960 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only...
, and after graduating left South Africa for England in 1970, where she continued her studies at Reading University.
She lived in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and returned to South Africa in 1990, where she taught for three years in the department of English at the University of the Western Cape.
She gained attention in South Africa and internationally with her first work, a collection of short stories , You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (1987), which takes place during the apartheid era. Her second novel, David's Story (2000), takes place in 1991 toward the close of the apartheid era and explores racial identity. Playing in the Light, her third novel, released in 2006, covers similar terrain conceptually, though this time set in contemporary South Africa and centering around a white woman who learns that her parents actually belonged to the coloured
Coloured
In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers to an heterogenous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, various Khoisan and Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaya, India, Mozambique,...
ethnic group.
She published her second collection of short stories, The One That Got Away. The stories, set mainly in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and Glasgow, explore a range of human relationships: marriage, friendships, family ties or relations with servants.
Zoë Wicomb resides in Glasgow where she teaches creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
and post-colonial literature
Post-colonial literature
Postcolonial literature , is a body of literary writings that reacts to the discourse of colonization. Post-colonial literature often involves writings that deal with issues of de-colonization or the political and cultural independence of people formerly subjugated to colonial rule...
at the University of Strathclyde
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde , Glasgow, Scotland, is Glasgow's second university by age, founded in 1796, and receiving its Royal Charter in 1964 as the UK's first technological university...
.