For that work she won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject.
She has tutored Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and run workshops for young people and adults in Britain and abroad, including for the British Council.
[6] Journey to Jo'burg, Chain of Fire and Out of Bounds are set in South Africa under apartheid, while No Turning Back concerns the experiences of a boy trying to survive on the streets of Johannesburg in the immediate post-apartheid years.
The Other Side of Truth and its sequel, Web of Lies, deal with the experiences of the children of an outspoken Nigerian writer as they seek political asylum in England.
In 2004, she wrote the picture book papa,s Gift, set in contemporary South Africa, with her daughter, Maya Naidoo.