Jolyn Phillips was born and bred in Blompark, Gansbaai.   She completed a Master’s degree in Creative Writing under Professor Meg Vandermerwe. She is an award-winning author for her debut collection of short stories, Tjieng Tjang Tjerries and other stories which won the NIHSS Prize for Best Fiction. She also published a collection of Afrikaans poetry titled Radbraak that won the UJ Prize for Best Debut in 2017, and Bientang: ’n !nau gedig which won the Eugene Marais Prize in 2021. She is also known as a stage performer and singer/songwriter.  As a singer/songwriter she has a self-titled album available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music. In 2022 she received the Working Group Grant from the NIHSS which funded her collection Bientang: ’n !nau gedig to be adapted for stage and shown at major festivals such as the Klein Karoo Kunstefees (KKNK), the Suidoosterfees and the US Toyota Woordfees in 2022.  She recently handed in her Ph.D. in English lecture titled: Bientang’s Cave: A Trans-disciplinary Study of Marginality in the Epic in Afrikaans. She is currently working as a freelance stage performer and lecturer.