Born in Poland, Karina M. Szczurek lived in Austria, the United States and Wales, before finding a home in South Africa. She is the author and (co)editor of a dozen works of fiction and non-fiction, most recently a memoir, The Fifth Mrs Brink, and an anthology, Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa. She won the MML Literature Award in the Category English Drama in 2012 and received the Thomas Pringle Award for a portfolio of ad hoc reviews from the English Academy of Southern Africa in 2018. She is a board member of Short Story Day Africa and New Contrast. In 2019, she founded Karavan Press, an independent publishing house, and a year later, established the Philida Literary Award. She lives in Cape Town.
