User:Fuzchia/Megan Voysey-Braig

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Megan Voysey-Braig is a South African writer known for her debut novel Till We Can Keep an Animal, which won the European Union Literary Award for 2007/08[1] and was shortlisted for Africa's 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book.[2]

Till We Can Keep an Animal is the story of a South African woman who is killed after being sexually assaulted, and then stays in the area as a ghost, visiting relatives and telling the story through her eyes.[3] Voysey-Braig has said that the novel's subject matter is so serious because she wanted to explore her country's history of violence and Apartheid, and its impact on modern South Africa.[4]

Voysey-Braig has said that her writing process involves listening to the characters inside her and then writing down their stories: "I have a few hundred people in me at a time (so it feels!) vying for their stories to be told, which can make it very exhausting."[5] She cites Jean-Paul Sartre, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and JM Coetzee as influences on her.[5]

In 2008, Voysey-Braig spent a nine-month sabbatical in Berlin for inspiration for her writing.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Megan Voysey-Braig". Jacana Media. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  2. ^ "In search of great prose". Mail & Guardian. March 3, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  3. ^ Zvomuya, Percy (February 18, 2009). "The dead do tell tales". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  4. ^ "Megan Voysey-Braig Latest". BooksLIVE. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Talking authors: Megan Voysey-Braig". Mail & Guardian. November 30, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  6. ^ "Getting to know Megan Voysey-Braig". BooksLIVE. Retrieved July 23, 2015.