J. M. Coetzee was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. His work includes Waiting for the Barbarians, Life and Times of Michael K, The Master of Petersburg, Disgrace and Diary of a Bad Year.

Dorothy Driver taught for many years at the University of Cape Town, where she is now Professor Emeritus. She has had visiting teaching positions at the University of Chicago and Stanford University. From 2005 to 2016 she held a professorship in the Discipline of English and Creative Writing, Adelaide University, where she now has visiting researcher status. Her research is primarily in the field of English South African literature.