Tlotlo Tsamaase is a Motswana speculative fiction writer and poet whose writing has been nominated for or won numerous awards.

Her fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, Africanfuturism: An Anthology, Africa Risen, and more.

Tsamaase earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Botswana as well as an MFA in creative writing from Chapman University.^[1] She has said that "studying architecture brought [her] to science fiction."^[2]

Her first novella, The Silence of the Wilting Skin, was published in 2021 by Pink Narcissus Press and was nominated for a Lambda Award in the LGBTQ Speculative Fiction category.^[3] Her first novel, Womb City, was published by Erewhon Books in 2024^[4] and was nominated for a Locus Award for Best First Novel.^[5] It was also a finalist for the 2025 Ignyte Award for Outstanding Novel. ⁷

Her fiction has appeared in publications such as Clarkesworld Magazine, The Best of World Science Fiction Volume 1, Futuri uniti d'Africa, Terraform, Strange Horizons, Africanfuturism: An Anthology, Africa Risen, The Dark Magazine, and The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction.

She is currently represented by Naomi Davis of BookEnds Literary Agency.^[6]

She is Motswana.^[1]

• "Who Will Clean Our Spirits When We Are Gone?", The Dark Magazine
• "The River of Night", The Dark Magazine
• "Eclipse Our Sins", Clarkesworld Magazine
• "Behind Our Irises", in Wole Talabi, editor, Africanfuturism: An Anthology (2020)
• "The River of Night" in Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, editor, The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction (2021)
• "Peeling Time (Deluxe Edition)", in Sheree Renée Thomas, Zelda Knight, and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, editor, Africa Risen (2022)
• "Dreamports" in Apex Magazine (2022)

• The Silence of the Wilting Skin (2020)
• Womb City (2024)

• Official website