Rozena Maart

Dr. Rozena Maart (born 1962 ) is a South African writer, and professor, currently living between Cape Town, South Africa and Guelph, Ontario, Canada. She has been recognized for her writing, and for her work opposing apartheid and violence against women. She has lectured throughout Canada, the United States and many parts of the world.

She was born in District Six, Cape Town, South Africa, the old slave quarter of Cape Town. Her family was forcibly removed from District Six in 1973 as a result of the government’s Forced Removal Act. In 1987 when she was 24, Maart was nominated for the “Woman of the Year” award hosted in Johannesburg, for her work opposing violence against women and for starting, with four women, the first Black feminist organization in Cape Town, Women Against Repression (WAR).

She moved to Canada in 1989 and published her first book of poetry in 1990, Talk About It!. She won the Journey Prize in 1992 for her short story "No Rosa, No District Six", which later appeared in her debut short story collection Rosa's District Six. She is the author of several books of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction and novels, most recently the novel The Writing Circle, published in 2007 (TSAR Publications), which is being made into a feature film. Rosa's District Six made the weekly bestseller list in Canada in 2006 and the HOMEBRU 2006 list in South Africa.