Dominique Botha grew up on a farm in the Free State and immortalised her childhood years in her debut novel False River. Published by Umuzi in 2013, False River was awarded the Eugène Marais Prize conferred by the South African Academy for Science and arts, the Jan Rabie-Rapport Prize and the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize for both English and Afrikaans Literature. False River was also translated into French. In 2021 she released her first solo volume of poetry, Donkerberg/Bloodwood. The bilingual volume of poetry is deeply rooted in the rural landscape of her childhood, transfigured by the shifting sands of loss, murder and love.
Dominique lives in the Dwarsriver valley in the Boland with her husband and four children. She writes in both English and Afrikaans, translates and contributes to various publications