Catherine Buckle was born in 1957 in Harare, Zimbabwe. She trained as a social worker at the University of Zimbabwe and graduated with a diploma in Social Work in 1979. She later trained as a Librarian and worked as the School Librarian and Head Counsellor at an Harare girls senior school. Catherine was the Estate Manager of a small conservation education game park - the Mukuvis Woodlands - just outside Harare for 9 years, where she was involved in raising baby elephants, crocodiles and general game and conservation management. In her spare time she is a writer and has four novels in print in Zimbabwe, two for children and two for teenagers. Since 2000 she has had two non-fiction books published on the crisis in Zimbabwe: African Tears, the Zimbabwe Land Invasions and Beyond Tears, Zimbabwe's tragedy. Catherine currently writes a weekly column for a UK daily newspaper under a pseudonym for her own protection. She also writes a weekly letter from Zimbabwe about events there. This letter is used by a number of media outlets - radio, newspaper and web sites, in South Africa, the UK, Canada and Australia. The letter is also published on her own website www.cathybuckle.com and read every week on a UK-based radio station SW Radio Africa. Catherine is divorced and has a son.