Tlotlo Tsamaase

Tlotlo Tsamaase is a Motswana author of Womb City and The Silence of the Wilting Skin. Her second novel, House of Margins, is forthcoming in Spring 2026, as well as her debut YA fantasy, The Bloodwinds, from Knopf in 2027. 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). Her 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. She is a PhD student in English (Creative Writing) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Photo: Lorraine Kinnear).