Priscilla Morris on writing resistance and community in Black Butterflies

The Writing Life

In this episode we’re bringing you a conversation with debut novelist and creative writing teacher Priscilla Morris. Priscilla’s first novel Black Butterflies is the author’s personal response to the war that devastated her mother’s hometown of Sarajevo, Bosnia, in the former Yugoslavia, from 1992-1996.

Priscilla spoke to NCW Communications Assistant Molly-Rose Medhurst about her approach to researching and writing sensitively about the Siege and the atrocities of war, drawing from memory and from the recollections of family and friends. She also talks about her desire to centre the importance of community in the book and her narrative approach to time.

Priscilla and Molly’s conversation contains references to sexual assault, death, violence and the horrors of war linked to the Siege of Sarajevo. Please take care when listening.