Born in South Africa in 1947, John Eppel was raised in Zimbabwe, where he still lives. His first novel, D G G Berry's The Great North Road, won the M-Net prize and was listed in the Weekly Mail & Guardian as one of the best 20 South African books in English published between 1948 and 1994. His second novel, Hatchings, was shortlisted for the M-Net prize and was chosen for the series in the Times Literary Supplement of the most significant books to have come out of Africa. His other novels are The Giraffe Man, The Curse of the Ripe Tomato, The Holy Innocents, Absent: The English Teacher, Traffickings, and (awaiting publication) The Boy Who Loved Camping. White Man Walking, his collection of short stories came out from Mwanaka Media and Publishing in 2018