Gail Evans

Born on November 1, 1958 in Carltonville, South Africa, to a mine mechanic and an architectural draughtswoman, Gail Evans as a child dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer. In spite of winning awards and obtaining honors in her ballet exams, her life took another turn and the ballet fell away to be replaced by Speech and Drama, for which, after four years training, she obtained a Higher Diploma in 1980 from the Pretoria Technikon. For the next six years she starved in the garret, as her mother warned her she would do if she followed this career path, working in radio, on stage for P.A.C.T (The Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal), in television shows, as a telecine operator for the S.A.B.C. (South African Broadcasting Company), doing theatre reviews for the arts magazine Scenario, and more often than not, waitressing in order to put a roof over her head and food in her mouth. In 1985 she married an engineering geologist and spent the next couple of years traversing un-charted territory in Southern Africa in an old Landover, top speed eighty kilometers an hour, with carrycots wedged between the dashboard and the back of the seat, a large supply of water purification pills in order to make up babies bottles and a hoard of plastic bags in the glove compartment for dirty nappies. It was during this time,largely due to the influence and experience of writing for the arts magazine Scerario, that she became addicted to the keys on a type writer. Thus began a fourteen year journey through type writers, to computers, lots of research and many nights of soul searching, culminating in her first published title, "The Firstborn Of God. Resolving the Contradictions in the Bible." Since publishing "The Firstborn of God" in 2000, Gail explored the genre of fiction as opposed non-fiction and published "Time Trials." A wacky new age novel- as she describes it, that follows the journeys: spiritual, physical and political of Miriam, in the months leading up to the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first democratically elected President of South Africa. Gail followed up "Time Trials" with yet another genre, a travel and meditation guide, "Meditations In My Favourite Places In Southern Africa" published in 2001. The woman who once dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer, now attends performances of the Johannesburg Ballet company at the Civic Theatre, regularly attends the Grahamstown Festival (a feast of theatre, literature and art in the Eastern Cape), and whenever she has the time to spare, travels as much as possible both in Southern Africa and abroad. Her love of the African terrain shines through in every word that she has written "In Meditations In My Favourite Places In Southern Africa," as well as her deep seated interest in spirituality which weaves a thread throughout all of her work.