Unity Dow is the first woman in Botswana to be appointed High Court judge. Dow has a long record as a human rights attorney, co-founding the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Project and is a member of International Women's Rights Watch an advocacy organisation. In 1995 Dow challenged the government over the 1982 Citizenship Act, under which Botswana women married to foreigners could not pass on their nationality to their children, though Botswana men married to foreigners could. This led to passage of a legislation that gave women the right to pass on their nationality to their children.

"Juggling Truths is Unity Dow's third novel. A young girl tells the story of her growing up and her attempts to bridge the seemingly conflicting 'truths' she encounters. The book has been compared to Harper Lee's ‘To Kill a Mockingbird': there are many resonances, in the relationships of the very young and the very old, the power of superstition in children's imagination (Nei is very like Scout) and in the lushness of remembered landscape..." -- Juliette Hughes, Age.