Natasha Mostert

Educated in South Africa and at Columbia University in New York, Mostert majored in modern languages and also holds graduate degrees in Lexicography and Applied Linguistics. She has worked as a teacher in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and as project coordinator in the publishing department of public television station WNET/Thirteen in New York City. Her political opinion pieces have appeared on the op-ed page of The New York Times, Newsweek, the Independent and The Times.

She is the author of five novels. Her latest, Keeper of Light and Dust, joins together ancient mysteries with cutting-edge science and film rights were sold to Relativity Media with Natasha writing the screenplay.

She is also an avid kickboxer, her main sparring partner a former European kickboxing champion. A boxer's speedball hangs in her study and she uses it to break the tension of her creative day.

Natasha is also involved in the CPAU Fighting for Peace programme, which is teaching Afghan women how to box and feel empowered in their lives.