Danila Botha is a Canadian author and novelist. She has published two short story collections, with a third to be published in 2024 and two novels, with the second to be published in 2025.

Personal life and work

Botha was born in

Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

in 1982. She is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and is of Moroccan

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i and

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent area ...

descent. As well as

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, she speaks

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

. She moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

with her family as a teenager. She studied Creative Writing at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, and at the

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

School for Writers. She volunteered with Na-me-res and Ve'ahavta, organizations benefiting the homeless, which inspired many of the short stories in ''Got No Secrets'', her first book, published by Tightrope Books in Canada in May 2010, and Modjaji Books in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in 2012. The stories, which deal with addiction, abuse, suicide, and childhood, are journeys into the private lives of twelve women. Botha has lived in

, Ra'anana, Israel and

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

, all of which informed her character's experiences in her debut novel. ''Too Much on the Inside'', which was published in May 2015 by Quattro Books, follows four newcomers to

who struggle with their pasts, their new home and falling in love. ''Too Much on the Inside'' was reviewed by Quill and Quire Magazine, The

Literary Review of Canada The ''Literary Review of Canada'' is a Canadian magazine that publishes ten times a year in print and online. The magazine features essays and reviews of books on political, cultural, social, and literary topics, as well as original Canadian poet ...

, and Book Clubbish. Botha's novel was described as an "extraordinary...narrative, which... reveals a deep understanding of human nature." and writing which contains "an admirable freshness and enthusiasm." It won a Book Excellence Award for Contemporary Novel in 2016. It was also short listed for the 2016 ReLit Award, in the Novels Category. It was optioned for film or episodic series by Pelee Entertainment in 2023. Her sophomore collection of short stories, ''For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known'', was published in October 2016 by Tightrope Books. It received a starred review in Quill and Quire Magazine, who called it her "most triumphant work to date." The Toronto Star praised her "fine talent for putting emphasis in unexpected places." while the Globe and Mail praised the stories' "admirable directness and grit". The Winnipeg Review praised her for "speaking smartly, even boldly... ndepaint ngthe stoic male canvasses of Cheever and Carver, but with a sensing, reflective affect" In May 2017, it was a named a finalist for the Trillium Book Award. It was also short listed for the Vine Award for Canadian Jewish Literature. Her new collection of short stories, Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness, will be published by Guernica Editions in 2024. Stories from it have appeared in the Humber Literary Review, the anthology Changing the Face of Canadian Literature, and are forthcoming on Jewishfiction.net. Her fifth book, and second novel, A Place For People Like Us will be published by Guernica Editions in 2025. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph. She has contributed to the National Post's the Afterword, The Huffington Post and the 49th Shelf The Hamilton Review of Books and was the Writer in Residence for Open Book in September 2016. She was the 2021-2022 Writer in Residence at Toronto's Heliconian Club. She is a Creative Writing instructor at University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies and part of the faculty at Humber College's School for Writers. She lives in

with her husband and kids.

Bibliography

Short story collections

* ''Got No Secrets'' 2010 ( Tightrope Books) * ''For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known'' 2016 ( Tightrope Books) * ''Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness'' 2024 (Guernica Editions)

Novels

* ''Too Much on the Inside'' 2015 ( Quattro Books) * ''A Place for People Like Us'' 2025 (Guernica Editions)

Sources

External links

* http://www.danilabotha.com/ (Official Webpage) * http://quattrobooks.ca/books/too-much-on-the-inside (Quattro Books Author Page) * https://web.archive.org/web/20150910020213/http://www.openbooktoronto.com/news/proust_questionnaire_with_danila_botha (Open Book Toronto Author Questionnaire) * https://web.archive.org/web/20120129101309/http://www.openbooktoronto.com/rob_mclennans_12_or_20_questions_with_danila_botha (Open Book Toronto interview with Danila Botha) * http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/got-no-secrets/Content?oid=1729179 (Halifax Coast Book Review of Got No Secrets) * http://arts.nationalpost.com/tag/danila-botha/ (''National Post'' articles written by Danila Botha) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Danila 1982 births Afrikaner Jews South African journalists 21st-century Canadian novelists Living people Canadian women novelists Journalists from Toronto South African emigrants to Canada People from Johannesburg Canadian women short story writers White South African people 21st-century Canadian women writers Writers from Toronto 21st-century Canadian short story writers Canadian women non-fiction writers