Gillian Slovo

Gillian Slovo is a South African born novelist who has lived in England since 1964. Her first novel, Morbid Symptoms (1984), began a series of crime fiction featuring female detective Kate Baeier. Her other novels include Ties of Blood (1989), The Betrayal (1991) and Red Dust (2000), a courtroom drama set in contemporary South Africa, which explores the effects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that has since been made into a movie starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Gillian is the daughter of Joe Slovo, leader of the South African Communist party, and Ruth First, journalist, economist, philosopher and anti-apartheid activist who was murdered in 1982. Every Secret Thing: My Family, My Country (1997) is a moving account of her childhood in South Africa and her relationship with her parents. Her book, Ice Road (2004) was shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. Gillian is President of English PEN.