Zelda Bezuidenhout was born in Zambia but moved to South Africa as a young girl. She worked as an advertising copywriter in Johannesburg for most of her adult life and only started writing books at the age of 56.
Her first book, the youth novel "As mens geluk kon proe" was the runner-up in Lapa Publishers' youth novel competition in 2017. It has since been translated into English and was published as "Confessions of a Ginger Pudding" in September 2021.
Her first book for adults, "Die dekonstruksie van Retta Blom" was published by Kwela Books in July 2019. Another youth novel, "Die 6 weke van Thomas en Ella", followed in September 2019. "Toe ons oneindig was" was published in June 2020. A first for Afrikaans YA fiction, it's a coming of age story with a lesbian protagonist.
A youth book for readers between 10 and 13 followed in March 2021. "Die drie van ons" is a beautiful story about being 12 and trying to figure out your place in this world.
Zelda's second book for adults is a medical suspense novel titled "Die waarde van Stil Bure." It tells the story of Magdaleen Verster, an ordinary young woman who finds herself entangled in the controversial world of stem cell research.
She recently published her seventh youth novel, a young adult #MeToo story called "Quinn se jaar van kwik". It was the runner-up in LAPA publishers' 2023 youth fiction competition and received rave reviews.
Zelda lives in Parys, Free State with her husband Izak. Their daughter, Mia, is a compositing artist at an animation studio in Cape Town.