Keletso Mopai


Keletso Mopai is a South African writer. She is the author of the short-story collection If You Keep Digging, published by BlackBird Books, an imprint of Jacana Media. Her work has appeared in international literary journals, including The Kenyon Review and Internazionale (magazine). In 2024, she served as a judge for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
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Early life and education

Mopai was raised in Lenyenye, a township in Limpopo, South Africa. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in geology and chemistry, followed by a Bachelor of Science Honours in geology, both from the University of Limpopo. She later completed a Master of Arts degree in creative writing at the University of Cape Town.

Career

Mopai’s writing has appeared in South African and international literary publications, including The Johannesburg Review of Books, DRUM, Brittle Paper, The Kalahari Review, and Catapult.
In 2019, she published her debut short-story collection, If You Keep Digging, through Blackbird Books, an imprint of Jacana Media.
Mopai has participated in South African literary festivals and writing programmes and has been interviewed by academic and literary organisations about her work.
She was a writing fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study in 2024. In 2025, she was selected as a writing resident for the Brussels to Karoo residency programme.

Awards and recognition