Born in Rhodesia, present-day Zimbabwe, on February 4, 1959, and spent part of her childhood in England. She studied Medicine at Cambridge University but decided to return to Zimbabwe a few months before her country's independence. There she studied Psychology at the University of Zimbabwe while working, for two years, at a marketing agency as a copywriter. She has written a large number of plays, including The Lost of the Soil and she also joined the Zambuko theatre group, where she participated in the production of two plays: Katshaa and Mavambo. In 1985 she published a short story in Switzerland called The Letter, as well as the play She Does Not Weep in Harare, but it was in 1987 that she received recognition for her novel Nervous Conditions, which won the African section of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. In 1989 she was considered one of the 12 best African writers. She continued her studies in Berlin, at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie, where she trained as a film director and produced numerous films as well as a documentary for German television. Her work offers debate on and insight into education, politics, activism and feminism, especially focusing on her own country, Zimbabwe.