Yvonne Vera

{{Infobox person

| name = Yvonne Vera

| image = Yvonne Vera, Zimbabwean author.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1964|9|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia

| death_date = {{death date and age|2005|4|7|1964|9|19|df=y}}

| death_place = Toronto, Canada

| occupation = novelist, short story writer, arts administrator

| alma_mater = York University

| nationality = Zimbabwean

| era = 1992–2005

| movement =

| spouse = {{marriage|John Jose|1987|2005}}

| relatives =

| website =

}}

Yvonne Vera (19 September 1964 – 7 April 2005) was an author from Zimbabwe.{{Cite web |title=Yvonne Vera {{!}} Books {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/27/guardianobituaries.books |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=amp.theguardian.com}} Her first published book was a collection of short stories, Why Don't You Carve Other Animals (1992), which was followed by five novels: Nehanda (1993), Without a Name (1994), Under the Tongue (1996), Butterfly Burning (1998), and The Stone Virgins (2002). According to the African Studies Center at University of Leiden, "her novels are known for their poetic prose, difficult subject-matter, and their strong women characters, and are firmly rooted in Zimbabwe's difficult past{{Cite web |title=Yvonne Vera {{!}} African Studies Centre Leiden |url=https://www.ascleiden.nl/content/library-weekly/yvonne-vera |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.ascleiden.nl}}." For these reasons, she has been widely studied and appreciated by those studying postcolonial African literature.{{Cite web |title=African literature - The influence of oral traditions on modern writers {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/African-literature/The-influence-of-oral-traditions-on-modern-writers |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}

Life

Vera was born in Bulawayo, in what was then Southern Rhodesia, to Jerry Vera and Ericah Gwetai.

{{cite news

| title =Zim author Yvonne Vera dies

| publisher =News24.com

| date =9 April 2005

| url =http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Zim-author-Yvonne-Vera-dies-20050409

| access-date = 27 October 2015 }}

At the age of eight, she worked as a cotton-picker near Hartley.

{{cite book |last =Vera |first =Yvonne |title =Under the Tongue |publisher=Baobab Books |year=1996 |location=Harare |isbn=0-908311-93-1 |no-pp =true | page =biographical notes |url-access =registration |url =https://archive.org/details/undertongue00vera }}

She attended Mzilikazi High School and then taught English literature at Njube High School, both in Bulawayo. In 1987, she immigrated to Canada and she married John Jose, a Canadian teacher whom she had met while he was teaching at Njube. At some point in the late 1980s, Vera was diagnosed as HIV-positive, but never shared this information during her lifetime.{{Cite web|url=https://atom.library.yorku.ca/index.php/vera-yvonne-2|title=Vera, Yvonne - York University Libraries' Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections|website=atom.library.yorku.ca|access-date=8 March 2019}} At York University, Toronto, she completed an undergraduate degree, a master's and a PhD, and taught literature.

{{cite news |first= Helon|last= Habila |author-link=Helon Habila|title= Obituary: Yvonne Vera |url= http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1471087,00.html|work= The Guardian|date=27 April 2005|access-date=8 October 2007 }}

In 1995, Vera separated from her husband and returned to Zimbabwe. In 1997 she became director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, a gallery that showcases local talent ranging from that of professional artists to school children. She resigned in May 2003 because of the withdrawal of government funding, an exodus of local artists and a drop in visitors.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UDUFEMJvVQ "Yvonne Vera, Zimbabwean author"]. Wide-ranging Radio Netherlands' interview. In 2004, Vera returned to Canada with Jose to seek treatment. She died on 7 April 2005 of AIDS-related meningitis.{{cite journal

| last =Primorac

| first =Ranka

| title =Obituary: Yvonne Vera (1964-2005)

| journal =The Journal of Commonwealth Literature

| volume =40

| issue =3

| pages =149–152

| publisher =Sage Publications

| year =2005

| url =http://jcl.sagepub.com/cgi/content/citation/40/3/149

| doi =10.1177/0021989405056981

| s2cid =163286622

| access-date = 15 December 2007}} Subscription required.

{{Cite news

| last =Dunphy

| first =Catherine

| title =Yvonne Vera, 40: A powerful voice quelled

| newspaper =Toronto Star

| date =30 May 2005

| url = https://www.thestar.com/Obituary/TtoZ/article/108037

}}

Awards

1994: Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Africa) and Zimbabwe Publishers' Literary Award, for Without a Name{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}
2002: Macmillan Writers' Prize for Africa for The Stone Virgins
2003: National Arts Merit Awards for Best Written Work.{{Cite web |date=25 February 2018 |title=NAMA Awards 2003 |url=https://www.pindula.co.zw/NAMA_Awards_2003 |access-date=30 August 2020 |website=Pindula |language=en}}

Works

While at university, Vera submitted a story to a Toronto magazine: the publisher asked for more, so she sat down to write them. Her collection of short stories, Why Don't You Carve Other Animals, was published in 1992. It was followed by five completed novels:

Nehanda (Baobab Books, 1993), shortlisted for Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Without a Name (Baobab Books, 1994), awarded Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa and Zimbabwe Publishers' Literary Award
Under the Tongue (Baobab Books, 1996){{Cite book |last=Vera |first=Yvonne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzZLjctxb0YC |title=Under the Tongue |date=1996 |publisher=Baobab Books |isbn=978-0-908311-93-4 |language=en}}
Butterfly Burning (1998), awarded a German literary prize, LiBeraturpreis, in 2002
The Stone Virgins (2002), awarded Macmillan Writers' Prize for Africa; extracted in New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby, 2029{{cite web|url=https://www.wantedonline.co.za/voices/2019-07-05-new-daughters-of-africa-is-a-powerful-collection-of-writing-by-women-from-the-continent/|title= 'New Daughters of Africa' is a powerful collection of writing by women from the continent|first=Michele|last= Magwood|website=Wanted|date=5 July 2019|access-date=16 November 2021}}

At the time of her death Vera was working on a new novel, Obedience, which has never been published. Her other works have been published in Zimbabwe, Canada and several other countries, including translations into Spanish, Italian and Swedish.

Vera wrote obsessively, often for 10 hours a day, and described time when she was not writing as "a period of fasting". Her work was passionate and lyrical. She took on themes such as rape, incest and infanticide, and gender inequality in Zimbabwe before and after the country's war of independence with sensitivity and courage. She 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 was awarded the Swedish PEN Tucholsky Prize "for a corpus of works dealing with taboo subjects".

Vera also edited several anthologies by African women writers, including Opening Spaces: an Anthology of Contemporary African Women's Writing (Heinemann African Writers Series, 1999).[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opening-Spaces-Anthology-Contemporary-Heinemann/dp/0435910108/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1462534345&sr=8-13&keywords=yvonne+vera Opening Spaces: an Anthology of Contemporary African Women's Writing] at Amazon.

References

Robert Muponde and Mandivavarira Maodzwa-Taruvinga, eds, Sign and Taboo: Perspectives on the Poetic Fiction of Yvonne Vera (Harare: Weaver Press, 2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928173238/http://www.weaverpresszimbabwe.com/lit/litframeset.htm?signstaboo.htm Publisher's review]
[http://www.postcolonialweb.org/zimbabwe/vera/veraov.html Yvonne Vera] at postcolonial Literature in English.

External links

[https://atom.library.yorku.ca/index.php/yvonne-vera-fonds Yvonne Vera archives] are held at the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University Libraries, Toronto, Ontario
[https://web.archive.org/web/20071222170645/http://www.weaverpresszimbabwe.com/reviews/reviewframeset.htm Interview with Financial Gazette], 2002
Jane Bryce, [https://www.weaverpresszimbabwe.com/interviews/200-interview-yvonne-vera-by-jane-bryce.html Interview with Yvonne Vera], Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 1 August 2000. Published in Sign and Taboo (Harare: Weaver Press, 2002).

Category:1964 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:20th-century novelists

Category:20th-century short story writers

Category:20th-century Zimbabwean women writers

Category:20th-century Zimbabwean writers

Category:21st-century Zimbabwean women writers

Category:21st-century Zimbabwean writers

Category:AIDS-related deaths in Canada

Category:Alumni of Mzilikazi High School

Category:Deaths from meningitis

Category:Neurological disease deaths in Ontario