Author Biography
Braz Menezes was born in the British colony of Kenya to immigrant parents from Goa (Portuguese India). He attended racially- segregated schools to the age of seventeen, during which he also spent two years in a Jesuit-run boarding school in Goa. After receiving his degree in architecture, he travelled to Liverpool on a Royal Commonwealth Scholarship to study urban planning. He returned to Kenya in 1966. However, within a decade, deteriorating political conditions forced him to bring his family to Canada in 1976, from where he was recruited by the World Bank to continue his obsession--addressing urban development and poverty alleviation in metropolitan cities. Since returning to Canada he has been active on various causes to help make Canada and the world a better place. His journey into the literary world did not start until after his return to Canada in 2004. He studied creative writing at George Brown College and later attended the mentorship program at Humber College. His debut novel, Just Matata-Sin, Saints and Settlers (2011), and More Matata-Love after the Mau Mau (2013), were both published by Matata Books, Toronto. Menezes is currently working on the third book of the Matata Trilogy. His work has appeared previously in various anthologies since 2010. The books* are available in both print and digital formats. So far they have attracted readers in the US, Canada, Britain, India, Kenya, France, Brazil, Australia, Sweden, and Greece, among others. Just Matata - Sin, Saints and Settlers*CAN ISBN: 978-0-9877963-0-1 USA ISBN-13: 978-1466360938 (CreateSpace-Assigned) More Matata - Love After the Mau Mau* CAN ISBN: 978-0-9877963-2-5 USA ISBN-13: 978-1480086339 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
