Richard Whitaker studied Classics (Greek and Latin) at the Universities of the Witwatersrand, Oxford and St Andrews. He is now Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Cape Town. He has published extensively on Roman love poetry, oral poetry, and its influence of the classic on century literature, and has translated books from Latin and French. He has also published travel books on South Africa with AA Travel (UK) and National Geographic, and is currently a Contributing Editor of the poetry quarterly Stanzas.