Quote by Yvonne Vera: “The body remembers, even when the mind tries to forget.”

This quote means that traumatic experiences can leave a lasting impact on a person's physical and emotional being, even if they consciously try to block out the memories. The body holds unspoken stories.

Set in 1940s colonial Rhodesia, 'Butterfly Burning' depicts the struggles of women under oppressive systems. Vera used the story to connect historical trauma with its enduring effects on individuals and society.

Zimbabwean novelist whose lyrical and often disturbing fiction addressed silence, violence, and the interior lives of Zimbabwean women. Her 1994 novel Nehanda drew on the life of the spirit medium who led the First Chimurenga uprising against British colonisation. She received the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa and died in Toronto at forty in 2005.