Barry Levy a Human Rights Author from Ipswich.Qld. AU

In 1984, Barry Levy moved to Australia from South Africa because of his abhorrence of apartheid. In 2004, Levy had his first fiction novel published called Burning Bright [Kwela Books]. The narrative is about young love, family friends and child abuse. In an email interview Levy says it is "a very different coming of age story involving child abuse in a middle class environment and set against the brutality of the apartheid years in South Africa." [April 2009]

Levy crafts his novel around the universal themes of love, loss and need. His work shows the reader what the world is like for young people who live in a society misunderstood by their parents. He invites readers to view the younger generation’s struggle from an insider’s perspective, and we walk with the main character as he attempts, unsteadily and awkwardly, to make his way into adulthood and full participation in society. The book recreates a shadowy world of terrible secrets and the confusion of a teenager being drawn into an abusive relationship.

The Award Australian Human Rights Award for Journalism was awarded to Levy for a multiple series of stories on child sex abuse, domestic violence and homelessness. He was also a winner of the Anning Barton Memorial Award for Outstanding Journalism, which was awarded to him for a series of stories on child sex abuse (incest-rape). On another occasion he was a Walkley Awards Queensland State finalist for a series on homelessness. These themes are starkly portrayed in the popular book titled "As If!" [Interactive Press, 2008.] Of this book he says, it is “a fiction story based on observation of Australia's teenage homeless, it concerns the individual's need for love, identity and recognition, and is set against an adult world that is not always as honest or moral as it should be."

As If! describes disadvantage and its resultant pull towards waywardness. Levy paints a vivid picture of the lifestyle of Australia’s young homeless in a graphic manner. Set in the Brisbane (Queensland capital) fringe town of Ipswich, it is a world that many middle Australians live away from or choose to ignore. I have from time to time lived in and around the city of Ipswich because I teach art in a nearby prison, and perhaps as a result of that I found I could relate to the book with ease. I also recognise the tendency we as residents of the district, and indeed as middle class dwellers in the Western world, have to deny that this kind of existence can be playing itself out right under our very nose.

Levy’s portrayal of the hidden life of the socio-economically disadvantaged suburbs and towns, illuminates for readers the desperate ways teenagers respond to the stress of being forced to live in a manner "not of their choosing."

Levy.B. As If! Interactive Press, Bris, AU, 2008.

Levy.B. Burning Bright. Kwela Books, South Africa, 2004.