BEVERLEY NAIDOO

Biography: Carnegie medal winner Beverley Naidoo crafts tough teenage fiction . Much of her writing is inspired by the personal challenges young people face because of politics around them – for instance, as a street child in South Africa in NO TURNING BACK, as a refugee in London in THE OTHER SIDE OF TRUTH and WEB OF LIES, or as young South Africans of different backgrounds, all facing dramatic choices in her collection of stories OUT OF BOUNDS.

THE BOOKS

Born in South Africa, Beverley Naidoo grew up as a white child under apartheid – the racist system that denied equality and justice to black South Africans. As a student she became involved in resistance to apartheid and, at 21, was detained under the notorious ‘Ninety Days' law. Beverley came to England in 1965, where she married another South African exile.

Beverley began writing her first novel in the UK when her children were six and ten. While Journey To Jo'burg won awards in the UK and USA, it was banned in South Africa until 1991. To write its sequel Chain of Fire , she immersed herself in materials smuggled out of the country. After Nelson Mandela's release from jail, she was at last able to return freely. In 1993, Beverley and theatre director Olusola Oyeleye ran drama and writing workshops with young South Africans, including street children. She returned to South Africa a year later with a final draft of No Turning Back , to gather responses from some of the same young people.

Research for The Other Side of Truth took her to London, exploring life for young people forced overnight to become refugees. In the novel, 12 year-old Sade and her brother Femi, children of an outspoken journalist, are smuggled to London to escape General Abacha's gunmen. They find themselves alone in a new – often hostile – environment. Beverley deftly weaves together themes of political oppression, exile, Africa and childhood. The Other Side of Truth won the Carnegie Medal and the Smarties Silver Medal in 2000. Its sequel Web of Lies explores the effects of cultural dislocation and the seduction of inner city street culture.   Beverley's collection of short stories, Out of Bounds (Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu) spans the apartheid era to present day “post-apartheid”, with one story per decade. Her characters are caught up in a system forcing them to live apart as Blacks, Whites, Indians and ‘Coloureds'. However, shining through the conflict, are acts of bravery that keep hope alive within the ‘rainbow' country.

Beverley sometimes writes for younger children. Picture books include Baba's Gift written with her daughter Maya and vibrantly illustrated by Karin Littlewood. It is a story of family and friendship, set in the new South Africa. Beverley also writes poetry and plays for radio and stage.   ‘The Playground' , based on a story from Out of Bounds, premiered at the Polka Theatre, London, directed by Olusola Oyeleye. It was a Time Out 2004 Critic's Choice.

For further information about Beverley Naidoo, please visit: www.beverleynaidoo.com

Title: Viewing the world: the power of "If" for young and old

Summary: Beverley Naidoo will talk about the current debate on ‘respect' in relation to her latest novel Web of Lies . She will draw on her experience of working with young people in Britain for 40 years.   She will also talk about how her South African novels and stories reflect a universal condition of division and exclusion.   But what is it that enables her characters in Journey to Jo'burg, Chain of Fire, No Turning Back and Out of Bounds to hold on to an element of optimism and hope?   She will argue against the narrowness of political vision that promotes targets that effectively reduce creative spaces for ‘imagining each other'. She will uphold the critical role of libraries and librarians in promoting fiction that enables readers to engage in dialogues across communities, cultures and generations.