John Mbeki is a South African novelist and former accountant from Pietermaritzburg. He studied finance at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and later completed an MA in creative writing at the University of Cape Town. After a decade balancing spreadsheets in Johannesburg, he turned to fiction that blends intimate relationships with myth and the textures of city life.
His work has appeared in literary journals across southern Africa, and his debut novella Tin Map City (2018) received the Imbokodo Emerging Voices Award. He followed with the story collection Debts of Salt (2020), shortlisted for the Hustle & Heart Prize. John lives in Cape Town, mentors young writers through the Open Book Festival's outreach programs, and is at work on new stories that explore love, migration, and the math of longing.
