2015 Tutu Fellow Kopano Matlwa is releasing her third novel, titled Period Pain. Matlwa, who is a medical doctor, is the author of Coconut, which sold 25,000 copies. The award-winning novel established her as one of South Africa's most vibrant young writers. It also garnered a European Union Literary Award in 2007. She followed it up with Spilt Milk, which won the Wole Soyinka Prize for literature in 2010.
Period Pain is about the heartache and confusion experienced by so many South Africans facing the difficulties of xenophobia, rape, corruption and crime set against the backdrop of the nation's ailing public health system.