Maria Phalime

Maria Phalime is one of South Africa’s newest award-winning authors. Born and raised in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, Maria moved to Cape Town in 1991 to pursue her studies at the University of Cape Town, from where she graduated with degrees in Science and Medicine. She practiced for a brief period as a general practitioner in South Africa and the United Kingdom, before leaving medical practice to pursue non-clinical interests.In 2010 Maria found her voice as a writer. She studied under the acclaimed South African author, Mike Nicol, on the Get Smarter/Random House Struik Nonfiction Story Course. In 2012 Maria was the recipient of the inaugural City Press Nonfiction Award for her memoir, Postmortem – The Doctor Who Walked Away. In 2013 her novel for teens, Second Chances, was the English language category winner of the Maskew Miller Longman Literature Awards.