Sunday September 22, 2013 11am - 5pm.
Halifax Waterfront, around the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
Lesleyanne Ryan
Event Info: 'Remarkable Reads with Halifax Magazine' Stage at 11:30 - 12:00
Lesleyanne Ryan is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran and served as a Peacekeeper in Visoko, Bosnia from October 1993 to April 1994. For her years in service, Ryan has received The Canadian Decoration (for 12 years of service), The UN Protection Force Medal, and the UN Peacekeeping Medal. She’s a four-time winner of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Award in the category of Non-Fiction, and the winner of the Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers. Braco is her first novel.
Books
Braco
The year is 1995. The city of Srebrenica falls to Serbian forces. While women and children cling to uncertain security in the UN-protected area of Potocari, thousands of men escape into the woods. Within 48 hours, as many as 8,000 of these Bosnian men will be executed. Braco—the Bosnian word for little brother—follows fourteen-year-old Bosnian refugee Atif Stavic’s agonizing five-day journey through the woods. His goal: the safe city of Tuzla. To get there, Atif must navigate fifty kilometres of minefields, artillery fire, and firing squads, then cross the heavily guarded road that stands between him and his dream of sanctuary in the safe zone. In this ambitious and electrifying debut, former Canadian Forces peacekeeper Lesleyanne Ryan reveals Atif’s vividly realistic flight through a kaleidoscope of perspectives. A novel of searing detail and prismatic vision, Braco plunges full force into the traumatic events of the worst European conflict of our time and creates a testament to the power of human perseverance in the face of chaos and cruelty.
