[1] Her debut novel The Uncertainty of Hope, published in 2006 by Weaver Press, won the 2008 National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) Outstanding Fiction Book.
[2][3][4] Valerie Joan Tagwira was born in the city of Gweru, in central Zimbabwe, but lived for most of her childhood in Rutendo (Redcliff), a town in the Midlands Province.
She graduated in 1997 from the University of Zimbabwe's Medical School, and subsequently studied at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists while working in London, UK.
Percy Zvomuya in the Mail & Guardian wrote: "Tagwira's book is a celebration of urban sisterhood and abiding relationships that withstand the deprivations of harsh, life-negating policies.
Tagwira manages to make me angry, happy, hopeful, and hopeless, as she narrates this touching story about Zimbabwe".