Athambile Masola was born in Ezibeleni in 1987, and grew up in eMonti (East London).

Her debut collection of poems, Ilifa, was published in isiXhosa by uHlanga in 2021, and subsequently won the HSS Award for Poetry in 2022. Her other writing projects include co-authoring, with Xolisa Guzula, the children’s books Imbokodo: Women Who Shape Us and Together Apart: The Story of Living in Apartheid. As a researcher, her work focuses on black women’s historiography and life writing.

She teaches in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town.