Yvonne Vera facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yvonne Vera
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| Born | 19 September 1964 Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia
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| Died | 7 April 2005 (aged 40) Toronto, Canada
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| Nationality | Zimbabwean |
| Alma mater | York University |
| Occupation | novelist, short story writer, arts administrator |
| Era | 1992–2005 |
| Spouse(s) |
John Jose
(m. 1987–2005) |
Yvonne Vera (born September 19, 1964 – died April 7, 2005) was a famous author from Zimbabwe. She wrote many books, including short stories and novels. Her stories often featured strong women characters and explored important parts of Zimbabwe's history. People who study African literature often read and appreciate her work.
Contents
Her Life Story
Yvonne Vera was born in Bulawayo, which was then called Southern Rhodesia. Her parents were Jerry Vera and Ericah Gwetai. When she was eight years old, she worked picking cotton near a town called Hartley.
She went to Mzilikazi High School and later taught English literature at Njube High School in Bulawayo. In 1987, she moved to Canada and married John Jose, a teacher she had met in Zimbabwe.
In Canada, Yvonne Vera studied at York University in Toronto. She earned different university degrees, including a PhD, which is a very high academic degree. She also taught literature at the university.
In 1995, Yvonne Vera returned to Zimbabwe. In 1997, she became the director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. This gallery showed art from professional artists and even school children. She left this job in 2003 because the gallery lost government funding, many artists left, and fewer visitors came. In 2004, Vera went back to Canada with her husband to get medical treatment. She passed away on April 7, 2005, due to an illness.
Awards She Won
Yvonne Vera received several important awards for her writing:
- 1994: Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Africa) and Zimbabwe Publishers' Literary Award, for her book Without a Name
- 2002: Macmillan Writers' Prize for Africa for The Stone Virgins
- 2003: National Arts Merit Awards for Best Written Work
Her Books
While she was at university, Yvonne Vera sent a story to a magazine in Toronto. The publisher liked it so much that they asked for more! This led to her first book, a collection of short stories called Why Don't You Carve Other Animals, published in 1992.
She then wrote five novels:
- Nehanda (1993), which was considered for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize
- Without a Name (1994), which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa
- Under the Tongue (1996)
- Butterfly Burning (1998), which won a German literary prize called LiBeraturpreis
- The Stone Virgins (2002), which won the Macmillan Writers' Prize for Africa
Yvonne Vera loved writing. She once said, "I would love to be remembered as a writer who had no fear for words and who had an intense love for her nation." In 2004, she received the Swedish PEN Tucholsky Prize for her brave and important books.
She also helped put together collections of stories by other African women writers. One of these was Opening Spaces: an Anthology of Contemporary African Women's Writing (1999).
See also
- In Spanish: Yvonne Vera para niños
- Nehanda Nyakasikana
- TSAR Publications
