Photo: Lorraine Kinnear

Tlotlo Tsamaase

Tlotlo Tsamaase is a Motswana author of Womb City and The Silence of the Wilting Skin. Her debut YA novel, The Bloodwinds, is forthcoming in 2026 from Knopf Books for Young Readers. She is a Caine Prize finalist. Tlotlo has received support from the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, and her story “Behind Our Irises” is the joint winner of the Nommo Award for Best Short Story (2021). Tlotlo's short fiction has appeared in Africa Risen, The Best of World SF Volume 1, Clarkesworld, Terraform, Africanfuturism Anthology, Chiral Mad 5, and other publications. She is a Rhysling Award nominee and a Bessie Head Short Story Award winner. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Botswana and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University.

You can find her on Instagram and Twitter at @tlotlotsamaase.

Literary representation: Naomi Davis of BookEnds Literary Agency.

Publicist: Martin Cahill, Erewhon Books (martin@erewhonbooks.com)