Marlene Van Niekerk is an award-winning poet, novelist and short story writer. She was awarded South Africa's high honour, the Order of Ikhamanga, in 2011 for her outstanding intellectual contribution to the literary arts and culture field through poetry, literature and philosophical works. She has received many accolades, including being a finalist for the sixth Man Booker International Prize 2015 and shortlisted for the South African Sunday Times Literary Prize, the M-Net Literary Prize, the Booksellers' Choice Award South Africa and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Michiel Heyns is an award-winning literary translator and author of nine novels: The Children's Day, The Reluctant Passenger, The Typewriter's Tale, Bodies Politic, Invisible Furies, Lost Ground, A Sportful Malice, I am Pandarus, and A Poor Season for Whales. He was previously professor of English at the University of Stellenbosch. Mary Gaitskill is the author of several novels (most recently The Mare) and story collections (most recently Don't Cry), as well as a collection of essays and criticism titled Somebody with a Little Hammer and the novella This Is Pleasure. She is currently a Podlich Fellow at Claremont McKenna College.