The daughters of Jewish immigrants, Nadine Gordimer was born in 1923 in Springs, a small town on the East Rand of Johannesburg. She went to a Convent school and later studied for a year at the University of the Witwatersrand without taking a degree. In 1948 she moved to Johannesburg, where she lived all of her life.

She began writing at the young age of nine and her first story was published in a South African magazine when she was only fifteen. Her first collection of short stories was published in 1949. "Face to Face" and the first novel "The Lying Days" appeared in 1953. Nadine Gordimer is an author of fourteen novels, thirteen story collections, five non-fiction collections, several volumes of essays, four film scripts derived from her fiction, and three documentary film scripts. She achieved lasting international recognition for her works and her awards include fifteen honorary doctorates , 11 literary awards and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. Her novels and short stories have been published in 40 different languages.

Concerned about racial and economic inequality in South Africa from an early age, Nadine Gordimer joined, and became an active member of the African National Congress. During the Apartheid era she regularly took part in anti-Apartheid demonstrations in South Africa, and while travelling internationally spoke out against Apartheid, discrimination and political discrimination. She also resisted censorship and state control by serving on the Steering Committee of the Anti-Censorship Action Group.

In the post-Apartheid era, Nadine Gordimer continued to write about the effects of Apartheid and life in South Africa after 1994, and was active in the HIV/AIDS movement.

Nadine Gordimer died on the 13 July 2014 in Johannesburg.