Get to know Kopano Matlwa
by Amy Wright
Both a medical doctor and one of South Africa’s most exciting novelists, it’s time for an author spotlight on Kopano Matlwa.
In 2007 Matlwa published her award winning, debut novel, Coconut, during her medical degree. She went on to earn an impressive string of qualifications including a Doctorate in Public Health from Oxford University and numerous literary awards. Matlwa has gone on to publish four novels while leading public health projects.
With her seminal novel, Coconut, being translated into isiZulu, we thought it would be the perfect time to spotlight Kopano Matlwa as one of our Bridge Books must-read authors.
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Spilt Milk
Matlwa’s second novel, published in 2010, focuses on the “Born Free” generation who came of age in post-apartheid South Africa. It centres the successful school principal, Mohumagadi and the disgraced preacher, Father Bill. Through the exploration of their relationship built on shared secrets and Mohumagadi’s responsibilities to the children at her school, a thought-provoking narrative of South Africa is crafted.
Period Pain
Published in 2016, Period Pain was shortlisted for the South African Literary Awards, the 2017 Sunday Times Barry Ronge Fiction Prize, and South Africa’s Humanities and Social Sciences Award.
Through the eyes of Masechaba, a young doctor in South Africa, this novel unpacks issues of gender, race, and xenophobia while highlighting the underfunding of public hospitals. It is a story that leans into the intersecting complexities of life in the echoes of apartheid.
“Being alive is the most dangerous thing in the world. Anything can happen at any time. It's safer to be dead.”
Bosadi
Last year (2025), Matlwa published her fourth novel. Bosadi is a devastatingly intimate and contemporary novel that unpacks violence, immigration, grief, and womanhood. Centering Naledi, Aunty, and the fragile relationship that grows between them, Matlwa tells a story of the impossible expectations that threaten to swallow Black women whole.
A raw and gut-wrenching novel with a sprinkle of dark humour that demands attention.
“You learn that in this life you cannot control all of the things, but those that you can, you must do your utmost best.”