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.
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