My mother the seal

Elizabeth Trew was born and grew up in Cape Town. She left South Africa and returned in 1991 after 27 years in exile in England. A former librarian and teacher in Oxford, Norwich and London, as well as in Johannesburg, she has a BA Hons in English literature and linguistics from the University of East Anglia, and an MA in English Education from the University of Witwatersrand. Her poems have appeared in various poetry journals and anthologies in the UK and South Africa; have been short-listed for the Sol Plaatje EU Poetry award, and a selection published in ISISx and Prodigal Daughters: stories of South African women in exile, edited by Lauretta Ngcobo. She is a language editor and volunteers at a shelter for girls in Cape Town.