Helen Brain

Helen Brain - Profile

I am a full time writer, living in Cape Town, South Africa. Although my training is in music, I made a career change thirteen years ago when we moved to a rural fishing village.

I set aside three years to learn and practice the craft of writing for children before submitting my first book to a publisher. Since then I have published 30 books for children, and an adult memoir, 'Here be Lions'. I've been published locally by South African publishers Human and Rousseau, Nasou Via Afrika, Lux Verbi, Maskew Miller Longman, Shuter and Shooter and Oshun, and also by international publishers Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Hodder and Murray.

Most of my books have been translated into Afrikaans, and some have also appeared in Portuguese, Xhosa, Zulu and Tswana.

One of my teenage novels won an ATKV prize, an award that is voted for by teenage readers. Another was first runner up, and I was nominated for a Women Demand Dignity White Ribbon award for 'Here be Lions'.

I have a strict policy of writing 1000 words a day - a task that takes me between 50 minutes and five hours. In the afternoons I proofread and edit other people's manuscripts for a local publisher. I also teach writing for children at an online writing school.

I particularly like to write for children between the ages of 9 and 11, and specialise in writing books that hook reluctant readers.

Part of my creative process involves having fun making things. I have handmade a collection of over 120 miniature books, all stitched using traditional methods from around the world. These were exhibited in Cape Town and Johannesburg in 2006.

You can read more about me, enjoy my blog and buy my books on my website.