Novel honours prisoner’s voice

The Calgary Herald
October 15, 2005

Candice G. Ball

After spending an hour on the phone with Calgary-born writer Karen Connelly, she's left me wanting more. What is it about this self-taught vagabond writer?

First, the author of five books of poetry and several non-fiction books, cares deeply about Burma (now called Myanmar), the subject of her debut novel, The Lizard Cage.

Second, there are her wry remarks about growing up near Glenmore Park. She lovingly describes her family as a "very dynamic working-class family" and "a very wild bunch." Now in her mid-30s, she concedes that the Calgary of her youth didn't have a lot to offer a young writer. "If you wanted to go for coffee, you could go to Sam's Deli on 4th Street or the Husky truck stop.

"Calgary's much more cosmopolitan now," she says. She adds the art scene has grown since she left.

"I used to attend One Yellow Rabbit performances at an old house. I remember going up a narrow, rickety staircase."

Third, she's likes to have fun. When asked whether she's tired of being described as the youngest winner, at age 24, of the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-fiction for Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal, she answers: "Yes, how about the sexiest winner?"

She laughs and then abruptly stops. "I should be more serious," she says. "The subject matter of my book is very serious."

The Lizard Cage (Random House Canada, 516 pages, $34.95) is a serious book, indeed. Her debut novel tells the story of Teza, a Burmese protest singer, who has served seven years of a 27-year sentence in solitary confinement. Starving, he must trap and kill lizards to stay alive, which goes against his Buddhist beliefs.

Shut off from the world, Teza still manages to influence those around him. For instance, his integrity and humour inspire the conscience-ridden senior jailer to make a radical change.

Not many writers could write a 500-plus page novel set in the monotonous world of a prison, but Connelly tells the story with the precision and compassion of a poet.

Within its first week of its release, The Lizard Cage received rave reviews. For example, fellow writer Rabindrahath Maharaj compares Connelly to the likes of Pablo Neruda, and writes that the novel "ranks among the best books about Southeast Asia."

Connelly, who calls Toronto home, has lived both in Asia and in Europe. In the mid-1990s, she spent time in Burma, where she heard a voice coming from inside a prison. "I began to think about what abusive regimes do to artists and writers," she says.

The prisoner's voice never left her. To learn more, she interviewed artists, journalists and poets. "They were creating art and working against the regime -- often by the very act of creating," she explains. She also took photographs, some of which are included in her book.

For 10 years -- the time it took for Connelly to complete the novel -- she lived with stories of oppression, stories of torture and stories about Burmese soldiers burning down refugee camps. "I ingested so many tragic stories," she reflects. "I couldn't do it again in the same way I allowed Burma to enter me. It took too much out of me."

Although she questioned whether a woman from the West could enter the world deeply enough, she concluded she had to honour the people she interviewed. "I spoke with so many people -- it became an obligation that this story be told," she says.

In her acknowledgements, she writes: "I am thankful to many people, from former political prisoners to unemployed prison guards, from young tea-shop workers to old betel-nut sellers." She continues: "Someday, the government of Burma will change, and I will publicly thank each of you by name."

Connelly is currently working on a book of essays set in the refugee camps and among the rebel armies along the Burmese-Thai border, but her next novel will be set in Calgary and Vancouver.

The recently married writer also plans on starting a family. "I am 36," she says. "I need to get started soon."