Kirsten Miller (South African writer)
Kirsten Miller is a South African novelist, writer and artist based in Durban. She holds a BA(Hons) cum laude and an MA summa cum laude from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Over the years she has worked as a university lecturer, a creativity teacher and even a dolphin trainer, and she has lived in Gqeberha, London, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
She runs the Kirsten Miller Creative Studio at the Phansi Museum, offering courses in writing, art and development for autistic and non-autistic people. She founded Action in Autism, a nonprofit that supports autistic people and their families and advocates for better services.
Miller’s first book is Children on the Bridge, an autobiographical account of her early work with autistic children. Her debut novel, All is Fish, was shortlisted for the 2005 European Union Literary Awards; it is set in Mtunzini, Zululand, and explores complex relationships among three main characters.
Her other novels include Sister Moon (2014), The Hum of the Sun (2018) and All That is Left (2020). The Hum of the Sun was translated into German as Hörst du, wie der Himmel singt? and published in Europe in 2021.
Miller has published short stories in five collections and was a three-time finalist in the SA Pen Awards. In 2012 her autism-themed play Remember Joe appeared in Short, Sharp and Snappy. She has been a book reviewer for the Sunday Times and contributed to Sawubona magazine until 2014. She also wrote A Time for Faeries, a children’s picture book released in 2008.
As an artist, Miller works with mosaics, oils and watercolors. She has completed large mosaic commissions with autistic participants for the National Arts Council and has had solo exhibitions at Unity Gallery in Johannesburg (2005 and 2012). In 2023 and 2024 she created memorial benches in the Durban Botanic Gardens to honor organ donors, with mosaics made with participants from Action in Autism.
In 2024 she led a major public art project for the eThekwini municipality, replacing 18 large mosaic ellipses on the uMhlanga Rocks Whalebone Pier and mosaicing the end walls, directing a team of 14 artists. Her life-size work African Moo-nlight for CowParade was purchased at auction by SABMiller.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:54 (CET).