Juggling Truths

Unity Dow’ s third novel, Juggling Truths portrays the childhood of Monei Ntuka in the Botswanan village of Mochudi in Africa. Go to the past with me, so you can take the past to the future, asks her Nkoko. Nei takes us on an extraordinary journey through the many truths that shape her life; the truths of the colonisers and their churches and of her own people. We travel with her through dreams and share the wisdom of her grandmother as she lets the never-ending stories weave their own reality in face of a universe of conflicting truths. Unity Dow recreates with telling insight and gentle humour a world where the truths of the missionaries and the witchdoctors jostle with those of the generations of women.

Unity Dow is Botswana’ s first and only female High Court judge, and has a long record as a human-rights lawyer. She was the plaintiff in a ground-breaking legal case in which Botswana’ s nationality law was overturned and that led to passage of legislation through which women were enabled to pass on their nationality to their children. She has also written about the link between the Convention on the Rights of the Child and children’ s legal status in Botswana. She lives with her family in Lobatse, Botswana. Unity Dow was the first woman to be appointed high court judge in Botswana. She is the recipient of the 2003 William J. Brennan, Jr., Human Rights Award from Rutgers Law School. She is the author of Far and Beyon' and The Screaming of the Innocent. After holding several ministry positions in the Botswana government, since 2019 Unity Dow has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.