His books are being read in the UK, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, India, Kenya, Brazil, and USA. In Canada, a few Indie bookstores like Ben McNally (Toronto) and A Different Drummer (Burlington) carry his books on consignment. “I hope to persuade Indigo Books to carry them at least in some stores,” Braz Menezes says, “because the stories are very relevant to Canada’s transition to a multicultural society.”
The latest of his Matata* Trilogy: “Among the Jacaranda – Buds of Matata in Kenya” will be launched in Mississauga this week. The guest list is closed because of seating capacity.
At 79, Braz Menezes is a young man in a hurry.Braz Menezes was born in British-ruled Kenya to parents from Goa, India (then Portuguese India). In 2007, while sitting on a beach in Cuba, he observed his then 9 year-old granddaughter, making notes as she was going to write a story about her holiday. He wished he had recorded some stories of his youth. He took a decision.
He decided to chronicle his experience of living through the last fifty years of Imperial power in the Portuguese and British Empires, in the Matata Series. (*Matata means trouble in Kiswahili).
Braz enrolled in Creative Writing at George Brown College and attended the mentorship program at Humber College in Toronto.
He and his family arrived as Canadian Landed Immigrants into Canada in 1976. He was later recruited by the World Bank (Washington DC) to work in their Urban Sector.He has travelled extensively in Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and South Korea, among other countries.
His debut novel Just Matata: Sin, Saints and Settlers (2011) was expanded and issued as a Second Edition titled Beyond the Cape – Sin, Saints, Slaves, and Settlers (2015). Book Two of the Matata Trilogy titled More Matata: Love after the Mau Mau followed in 2012. Both have received a dozen 5-star reviews on Amazon.
Braz Menezes credits his success in relating to his far-flung audience on the advent of social media and e-book platforms that make it possible to reach readers in the furthest corners, where the Kenyan diaspora have found refuge.
To buy the book on Amazon, click here: Jacaranda
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