Ingrid was born in 1951 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and spent her childhood years in Stilfontein, a gold mining town. She matriculated from St Andrew’s School in Johannesburg, completed her BA in English and Political Science at the University of the Witwatersrand, BA Honours in English at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and MA in English at Queens’ University, Canada in 1984. She lived in Canada from 1977 until returning to South Africa in 1984. She has a son, Luke, a granddaughter, Maya, and is the widow of the late Tony Morphet.
She worked at the Sached Trust’s Khanya College after returning from Canada to South Africa, and then at the Dept of Adult Education and Extra-Mural Studies at UCT from January 1988 – March 2014, when she took early retirement. For most of that period she was the Director of the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies and also co-ordinated the Study Abroad Programs of the University of Chicago and Harvard University.
At various times she was a Trustee of Buchu Press; a nominated “civil society” member of the Art and Culture Council of the City of Cape Town; a member of the Committee of the National Arts Festival Grahamstown and convenor of its Winter School; a member of the Literature Committee for the City of Cape Town 2002 Festival; a member of the Literary Advisory Committee of the South African National Arts Council (NAC) and Chair of the South African Association of Canadian Studies. She is a member of PEN.
She is an Emeritus Professor and Fellow of the University of Cape Town.
She writes as Ingrid de Kok; her legal name is Ingrid Fiske.