Born in 1977 in Cape Town, Tom Eaton was educated at Westerford High School and the University of Cape Town. As an undergraduate he majored in English and Afrikaans/Netherlandic Studies, before completing in Honours degree in English Literature. In 1999 he enrolled at that University for a Masters in Creative Writing, and was supervised by Nobel Prize laureate J.M.Coetzee, graduating with distinction in 2001.

While working on his Masters, Eaton joined the 365 Digital group as a copy-editor and journalist, and by 2001 he was the South African editor for the group’s Cricket365.com website. In 2002 he decided to go freelance, and the following year he was approached by the Mail&Guardian to write a weekly satirical sports column. The ‘Pitch&Mutter’ column established Eaton as one of the foremost columnists in the country, and in 2005 – when he retired the column – Double Storey published a collection of ‘Pitch&Mutter’s entitled Twelve Rows Back.

Also in 2003 Eaton took over from the late Peter Robinson as the Mail&Guardian’s cricket correspondent, and has since gained a following as an insightful and wide-ranging sports writer – the “best sports feature writer in the country” according to veteran writer and commentator Mark Keohane. In 2006 he co-edited an anthology of South African sports journalism with Sunday Times columnist Luke Alfred, entitled Touchlines and Deadlines and published by Double Storey; and he remains a regular contributor to ‘SA Cricket’ magazine. His work has also appeared in the prestigious ‘The Cricketer’, UK-based ‘SPIN Cricket’ magazine, and other magazine titles like ‘SA Sports Illustrated’ and ‘SA Rugby’.

In 2005 his cricket writing expertise led to an approach from publishers putting together a groundbreaking coaching manual, written by the late Bob Woolmer, Professor Tim Noakes and Helen Moffett. Eaton was appointed as editor and editorial consultant on the project, and continues to guide the book towards publication with Struik later this year.

Eaton’s first foray into screenwriting came in 2006, when he was approached by Videovision to write the screenplay of ‘More Than Just a Game’, a docudrama directed by Junaid Ahmed that tells the story of the Makana Football Association – the soccer league founded and administered by political prisoners on Robben Island in the 1960s and 1970s – through the eyes of five former prisoners. The film is set for release in late 2007.

Eaton has also established himself in South Africa as a writer of fiction. His 2005 spoof, The De Villiers Code, was a bestseller, enjoying four print runs and sales in excess of 10,000 copies, and the following year he published his second novel, Texas, which was also well received. His third novel, The Wading, is to be published by Penguin (SA) in 2008.

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