Helen Brain
Biographical info
Helen Brain was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1960. In 1965 her family returned to South Africa, settling in Kwazulu Natal. Helen attended Pinetown Convent School and St Mary's DSG Kloof. In 1992 she graduated with a B.Mus (Performers) from UCT, specialising in singing. She then spent a year working in the Transkei, first on a rural mission station, and then teaching Ancient Greek at a theological college in Umtata. She worked in Kloof Public Library and then taught music for a short spell at St Mary's DSG Kloof before getting married and moving to Oxford with her husband.
On their return to South Africa Helen started a screen printing business, selling her hand printed textiles and mobiles at craft markets and through gift shops. When her family moved to the West Coast village of Laaiplek, she decided to retrain as a writer. In addition to the novels for children and young adults published by Human and Rousseau, she has published picture books and plays with Cambridge University Press, regularly writes feature articles for magazines, and is a freelance editor. At present she combines writing part time with teaching Music, Divinity and Creative Writing at St George's Grammar School, Mowbray.
She is married to Luke Stubbs, and they have three children, Peter, James and Philip.
Publications:
- Who's afraid of Spiders (Human & Rousseau, 1997)
- Tamara (Human & Rousseau, 1998)
- Kry 'n vlieëkoekie en ander krakerige stories (Human & Rousseau, 1999)
- Fly cemetery and other juicy stories (Human & Rousseau, 1999)
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