Marita van der Vyver was born in Cape Town on May 6, 1958. While in matric at Nelspruit High School in 1975 (which was also the Centenary Year for the Afrikaans language), she won a countrywide poetry competition and awarded a study bursary of four years. In 1978 she completed a BA Degree with languages and drama, and in 1979 an honours degree in journalism, both at the University of Stellenbosch. She completed a Master’s degree in journalism several years later. She initially worked as a journalist at the newspaper Die Burger and the magazine Sarie, until she decided in 1987 to become a freelance journalist.

Her debut was in 1982 with a children’s book, Van jou jas. But it was her first adult novel in 1992, the highly controversial Griet skryf ’n sprokie, which quickly became a bestseller and was reprinted several times. Griet skryf ’n sprokie was awarded the M-Net, ATKV and Eugène Marais Prizes. For her children’s and youth books she has been awarded, among others, the Tienie Holloway Medal, the MER Prize and the Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature. Her novel Wegkomkans was mostly written during her sabbatical year (1996/97) in the south of France. Since 1999, Marita has been living in the French countryside with her French husband, Alain, and four children.