I was born in in 1969 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where my father worked on the Matopos agricultural research station; I have one sister. My family heritage includes pre-Pioneer Column missionaries, South African farmers, English expatriates and a scattering of English, French Huguenot and German genes. I lived in Zimbabwe until I was 18, in various parts of the country, and then came down to the University of Cape Town for undergraduate studies in English. I love Cape Town and have found it very hard to consider leaving, which is largely why my entire academic career has been at UCT. With the collapse of Zimbabwe I became a South African citizen, and my parents and sister have also left the country, being scattered variously in the UK, France and Cape Town.

I am single, sharing a house with a friend known colloquially as my Evil Landlord, and with four cats and ridiculous quantities of books. In my free time I read science fiction and fantasy, study medieval cooking, role-play, noodle around on the internet, listen to alternative rock, play the piano badly but with great enjoyment, and cook huge meals for friends.

	Rather flattering photo of my cat Fish, taken by Thakky. Fish is, alas, probably even fatter than this photo suggests...
.	Dylan took these lovely photos of Golux, one of the cats I co-pamper with my housemate Eckhard. Golux is a sweet, quiet, thoughtful, insecure, jumpy little animal who's also a psychotic bird-killer.
	Todal, feline hyperactivity locus and agent of the devil: photos by the dreaded Stv, ace photographer.
	Ounce, random stray who adopted us and insisted on belonging. He was a terribly thin and straggly beastie who's turned into rather a beautiful cat. As the only male presences in a sea of females, he and Eckie bond a lot.
.	My sister, and my incredibly cute niece, at Christmas 2006.
	My mother, at Christmas 2006; photo taken with the brand new digital camera she'd just given me.
	My parents, at my sister's wedding.