C. A. Davids

Born in 1971 in Cape Town, South Africa,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/contributors/davids|title=C.A. Davids|website=Lapham's Quarterly}} Davids is a novelist, editor and writer. She previously worked in arts marketing as the marketing manager for the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and communications manager for the Alexander Kasser Theatre at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, USA. Before that, she worked as an advertising and promotions manager for Levi Strauss SA.

Davids has contributed to publications such as Lapham's Quarterly, the Johannesburg Review of Books,{{cite magazine|url=https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com/author/ca-davids/|title=Author: CA Davids|magazine=Johannesburg Review of Books|access-date=20 January 2022}} the South African Sunday Times{{cite web|url=https://www.pandeliterary.com/c-a-davids|title=C.A. Davids|website=APL (Ayesha Pande Literary)|access-date=20 January 2022}} and Wasafiri,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wasafiri.org/article/the-bend-in-the-arc-by-ca-davids/|title=The Bend in the Arc|first= C.A.|last= Davids|magazine=Wasafiri|date=29 June 2021|access-date=20 January 2022}} and her writing has appeared in anthologies such as Twist, an anthology of short stories by South African women (published by Struik, October 2006) and in African Pens: New Writing from Southern Africa (published by New Africa Books, April 2007).{{cite journal|url=https://www.african-writing.com/four/clarandyani.htm|title=African Pens; New Writing from Southern Africa, 2007 {{!}} Pessimism in African Pens 2007|website=African Writing Online|number=4|issn=1754-6672}} Davids has lived in Switzerland, the United States of America and Shanghai, China, and now resides on the edge of District Six in Cape Town, South Africa. She graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) with an MA in creative writing.{{cite web | url=http://www.modjajibooks.co.za/?s=C.A.+Davids | title=Book Launch: The Blacks of Cape Town by CA Davids | publisher=Modjaji Books | date=20 June 2013 | accessdate=19 September 2014}}{{cite web | url=http://mg.co.za/article/2013-08-23-00-authors-notes-ca-davids | title=Author's Notes: CA Davids | work=Mail and Guardian | date=23 August 2013 | accessdate=19 September 2014}}

Her debut novel The Blacks of Cape Town{{cite web|url=http://www.writerstories.tv/2014/4687/|title=C A Davids : The Blacks of Cape Town|date=25 August 2014|website=Writerstories TV|access-date=20 January 2022}} received a positive critical reception in 2013.{{cite web|url=https://mg.co.za/article/2013-11-08-00-davids-is-turning-back-on-black/|title=Davids is turning back on black|first=Percy|last= Zvomuya|website=Mail & Guardian|date=8 November 2013|access-date=20 January 2022}}

Davids is as strong advocate of South African literature:

{{blockquote|I would love to see a concerted, co-ordinated effort from civil society, writers, publishers, government and nongovernmental organisations to alter our reading habits (and trajectory) and the space given to literature in our country. It can and has been done elsewhere … but we would need to work together and plan 20 years into the future.}}

Davids has been shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize 2013,{{cite web|url=http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2014/06/03/shortlists-for-the-20132014-university-of-johannesburg-prizes-for-south-african-writing-in-english/|title=Shortlists for the 2013/2014 University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in English|author=Carolyn|website=Books LIVE|date=3 June 2014}} longlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2013; longlisted for the inaugural Kwani? Manuscript Project,{{cite web|url=https://www.kwani.org/manuscript_subdomain/kwani-manuscript-project-longlist.html|title=Longlist|publisher=The Kwani? Manuscript Project|access-date=20 January 2022}} and shortlisted for the EU Literary Award in 2012.

How To Be A Revolutionary won the prestigious Sunday Times Literary Award for best fiction in 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/books/news/2023-11-01-here-are-the-winners-of-the-2023-sunday-times-literary-awards/#:~:text=Bulelwa%20Mabasa%20and%20CA%20Davids,A%20Memoir%20(Picador%20Africa)./|title=Here are the winners of the 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards|first=Mila |last=De Villiers|website=Sunday Times (South Africa)|date=1 November 2023|access-date=3 November 2023}}

Davids lives with her husband and two children in Cape Town, South Africa.

• The Blacks of Cape Town (Modjaji Books, 2013, {{ISBN|978-1-920590-38-3}})
• How to be a Revolutionary (Verso Books, 2022, {{ISBN|9781839760877}}){{cite web|url=https://granta.com/how-to-be-a-revolutionary/|title=How to Be a Revolutionary|first=CA |last=Davids|website=Granta|date=15 November 2021|access-date=20 January 2022}}

• Short story in Twist (2006)
• "Nostalgia" in African Pens: New Writing from Southern Africa (2007)

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Category:1971 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century South African novelists

Category:21st-century South African women writers

Category:South African women novelists

Category:University of Cape Town alumni