Tlotlo Tsamaase (pronounced ""toe-toe SA-mah-AYE-say"") is a Nommo Award-winning Motswana author. Longlisted for the British Science Fiction Award, her debut novel, Womb City, is an Ignyte, Nommo, and Locus Award finalist. Her novella, The Silence of Wilting Skin is a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and her short fiction has appeared in multiple best-of anthologies, Africa Risen, New Suns 2, Chiral Mad 5, and other venues. She received support from the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative. Originally from Botswana, she now lives in Nebraska and can be found online at tlotlotsamaase.com.
Praise for Tlotlo Tsamaase: “A fearless novel that probes ideas of surveillance, misogyny and class. . . . Tsamaase brilliantly tackles ideas of motherhood and autonomy. The author seamlessly blends a body-hopping ghost story about revenge with a narrative about the importance of memory.” —The New York Times Book Review on Womb City ""Taking aim at colonization, Tsamaase masterfully utilizes the gothic genre to blend the unfolding horror of the house with the horror of a brutal regime that destroyed people, culture, and land in ways that reverberate to this day. A stunning commentary that balances atrocity with art."" —Maria Tureaud, author of This House Will Feed on House of Margins “Captivating and valiant. . . . With both chilling precision and anguished passion, Womb City depicts a toxic future of cyber-reincarnation and authoritarian omniscience.” —Foreword Reviews, STARRED REVIEW “This Afrofuturist novel’s twisty plot has a lot to say about inequality — and complicity.” —Los Angeles Times on Womb City “The body horror and sci-fi elements work together beautifully, melding into a thrilling and thought-provoking page-turner.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW for Womb City “Womb City pulsates with this gender-expansive feminist rage, propelling a narrative at breakneck speed—sometimes literally, for the characters—that leaves no one exempt from misogyny’s horrifying control.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “This Africanfuturist horror novel brings cyberpunk vibes, dystopian vibes, and ghost stories together for a great and unique read.” —Book Riot on Womb City “Womb City is an Afrofuturist, cyberpunk, feminist, horror thrill ride and if that isn't enough... I can't help you.” —Book Culture on Womb City “Enjoyably terrifying.” —New Scientist on Womb City “Womb City is an introspective Africanfuturist horror for readers who love stories that take a swing at reductive views on gender and crime without hiding the awfulness those issues bring up.” —Lightspeed on Womb City “A piercing critique of patriarchal power . . . for anyone interested in bringing down systems of oppression.” —Ancillary Review of Books on Womb City “A fierce, furious, and fearless debut that has its finger on the pulse—no, the gushing wound—of our world's most invasive cruelties.” —Daniel Kraus, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Shape of Water on Womb City “This beautifully written work haunts and upends expectations with its resurrected ghosts and gods and ancestors of Motswana cosmology. What an accomplished debut!” —T. L. Huchu, Caine Prize finalist and author of The Library of the Dead on Womb City