Christine Coates is a poet and writer from Cape Town. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. She has an interest in life-writing or memoir, and the recovery of personal history through public and private imagery. She makes hand-wrought books from found objects, paper and leather. She has undertaken the 800km pilgrimage across Spain, on the Camino de Compostela, and written an account of it.

Her stories and poems have been published in various literary journals; New Contrast, New Coin, Deep Water Literary Journal, scrutiny2, Stanzas, McGregor Poetry festival anthologies 2014, 2015. Found Poem was a finalist in the Cambridge Conference of Contemporary Poetry Review 2002, Africa Focus. Her poems were selected for the EU Sol Plaatje Poetry anthologies 2011 – 2015, and the Best “New” African Poets 2015 Anthology. Her debut collection, Homegrown, published in 2014 by Modjaji Books received an honourable mention from the Glenna Luschei Prize. Of the Prize judge Gabeba Baderoon said, “I read these books and many of the poems again and again. The [finalist books] feel thoughtfully shaped, rivetingly intelligent and superbly crafted.  I found them a pleasure and an education to read. Indeed, my horizons were vastly expanded by the extraordinarily well-realized poems in these collections.”

Her short stories have been highly commended; “The Cat’s Wife” in ADULTS ONLY, the Short.Sharp.Stories anthology 2014, and “How We Look Now” in WATER, the Short Story Day Africa anthology 2015. 

She has also written a cookbook: From the Heart; family, food and memory. Christine belongs to Finuala Dowling’s monthly poetry group and a women’s writing collaborative; The Grail Women Writers. She has worked as a teacher and adult educator. Now she freelances as an editor and writing coach.