Born in South Africa, Kirsten travelled and lived in the United Kingdom for 24 years before recently returning home.

With a love of reading and writing from a young age, she has always used storytelling as a way to translate her experiences. Finally pursuing this lifelong love, she undertook a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing as an adult, graduating with first-class honours in 2023.

Kirsten has a love for the short story and a particular fascination with ghost stories - especially their historical and cultural contexts. In 2024, she was successfully secured and managed an Arts Council England DYCP grant to work under the mentorship of award-winning author, A.L. Kennedy, researching and developing Inconvenient Ghosts, a collection of contemporary ghost stories that engage with themes of culture, legacy and mental health. The collection is currently still in progress.

Kirsten is also an advocate for writing as a tool for change and wellbeing. She holds the PWA Certificate in Therapeutic and Reflective Writing and has designed and facilitated writing for wellbeing and journaling workshops. Empowering the next generation, she has also run creative writing workshops for children, emphasising imagination, for which she was selected to attend the Arvon ‘Teaching Creative Writing to Young People’ residential course in 2023.

She now lives in Cape Town with her husband, two children, and daxie.