Yvonne Vera (1964–2005)
Author of Butterfly Burning
About the Author
Yvonne Vera (1964-2005) was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and later attended York University in Toronto, gaining her doctorate in English Literature in 1995. Her fiction has won a number of international awards, including the Tucholski Prize from Swedish PEN (2004) and the Macmillan writer's prize show more for Africa (2002). Her novel Nehanda was short-listed for the Commonwealth Prize (Africa, 1995), which she won two years later for Under the Tongue (1997). show less
Image credit: Yvonne Vera
Works by Yvonne Vera
Seelen im Exil : Erzählungen 1 copy
Associated Works
New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent (1992) — Contributor — 88 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Vera, Yvonne
- Legal name
- Jose, Yvonne Vera
- Birthdate
- 1964-09-19
- Date of death
- 2005-04-07
- Burial location
- Cremated
Haliburton, Canada (some of her ashes scattered at their cottage by her husband)
Matopos Hill, Zimbabwe (the rest of her ashes scattered atop) - Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Zimbabwe
- Birthplace
- Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- Place of death
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Cause of death
- AIDS-related meningitis
- Places of residence
- Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tsholotsho
Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Education
- York University, Canada
- Occupations
- art gallery director
teacher (literature)
author - Relationships
- Jose, John (husband)
Mlambo, Kupukile (friend) - Organizations
- National Gallery of Art, Zimbabwe (director)
- Awards and honors
- Commonwealth Writer's Prize (African Region ∙ 1997)
Tucholsky Award van Swedish PEN-Society (2004)
Swedish Award "Voice of Africa" (1999) - Short biography
- Yvonne Vera werd geboren in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Zij studeerde Engels in Toronto en schreef zes boeken, waaronder Vuurvlinder (2003). Haar werk werd verschillende keren bekroond, onder andere met de Commonwealth Prize (1997) voor Under the Tongue. Vera was enkele jaren directeur van de National Gallery of Art in Bulawayo, maar ze moest vluchten uit haar geboorteland, waarna ze in Canada woonde en werkte. In 2004 kende de Zweedse PEN-Vereniging haar de Tucholsky Award toe, een prijs bestemd voor schrijvers die vervolgd of bedreigd zijn, of gedwongen zijn in ballingschap te leven.
Ze zette zich actief in voor vrouwenrechten en werd door velen getipt als winnares van de Nobelprijs voor Literatuur.
Yvonne Vera overleed op 7 april 2005 aan de gevolgen van een hersenvliesontsteking.
Members
Reviews
Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera
This book is heavy on images and memories, light on plot and character. I feel like Yvonne Vera is a gorgeous writer and could transfer her skills to poetry.
A difficult novel to read, dealing with the violence around and after Zimbabwe's independence from a very direct, personal and shatteringly painful viewpoint. A young woman is murdered in a village outside Bulawayo; her sister is also attacked and left seriously injured and disfigured, and has to find a way to get back to something like normal life.
We are shown the world in which these things happen in an apparently objective, poetic way — the scenery, the buildings, the weather and vegetation, the normal lives of the people in Bulawayo and the village, the fighters who have returned from the bush, the memories and visible signs of pre-colonial heritage — and we are taken into the minds of the women to participate in a very subjective way in what is happening to them, but we are left to work out for ourselves how these things fit together, what it is in the external world that might have provoked this outburst of violence, and what the world's (limited) resources for palliating its effects might be.
A rather beautiful book, full of memorable language and images, but not really a comforting read. Vera leaves her characters living in a mental world full of jagged edges and unexploded mines, and we aren't given much hope that they will be able to avoid them for long.… (more)
We are shown the world in which these things happen in an apparently objective, poetic way — the scenery, the buildings, the weather and vegetation, the normal lives of the people in Bulawayo and the village, the fighters who have returned from the bush, the memories and visible signs of pre-colonial heritage — and we are taken into the minds of the women to participate in a very subjective way in what is happening to them, but we are left to work out for ourselves how these things fit together, what it is in the external world that might have provoked this outburst of violence, and what the world's (limited) resources for palliating its effects might be.
A rather beautiful book, full of memorable language and images, but not really a comforting read. Vera leaves her characters living in a mental world full of jagged edges and unexploded mines, and we aren't given much hope that they will be able to avoid them for long.… (more)
I've been trying to get into this for a while but I've finally admitted defeat. Nearly halfway into it and it's beautifully written and there is nothing I can grab onto for the faint hope of a plot line. It's reminding me of Nadine Gordimer, I just can't seem to connect with what is happening. I won't give it up yet, I'll put it back on the shelf and give it another try sometime and maybe I'll be able to figure it out.
I found it that very hard to read. It’s not that there is no plot, or no characters whatsoever. But they are hard to anchor to as individuals. They appear very much as portions of a texture. I couldn’t really back away and see the whole picture, so I couldn’t hold on to that either. Nevertheless, I really liked these descriptions. Very evocative.
Full review: http://reading.kingrat.biz/reviews/stone-virgins-yvonne-vera… (more)
Full review: http://reading.kingrat.biz/reviews/stone-virgins-yvonne-vera… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 11
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 382
- Popularity
- #63,245
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 49
- Languages
- 8
- Favorited
- 1