Beginner's pluck: 'Black Butterflies' author Priscilla Morris

Priscilla Morris: 'It’s based on two family stories — of my father rescuing his parents in law, and a great uncle escaping after his art was burnt.' Picture: Conor Horgan

Of Yugoslav and Cornish parentage, Priscilla spent her childhood summers in Sarajevo.

“I was 19 when war broke out. It was a huge shock watching it unfold.” 

After university, Priscilla taught English as a Foreign Language, in Barcelona and London, before working as a journalist for a legal magazine in Brighton, England

“I was writing short stories, and I attempted a children’s novel, but after two years I moved to Cambridge and to more specific teaching, for students, and English for lawyers.” 

Three years in Brazil followed. “That freed me creatively. My inner critic went.” 

Returning, she took an MFA in creative writing. “It was the best year of my life,” she says. 

I stayed in Norwich for six years in total. I started Black Butterflies there.

Moving to London, she taught English in University College, London, and City, and creative writing in Kingston.

“Then I moved to Dublin and taught in University College, Dublin.”

Black Butterflies has been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Women’s Prize.

Who is Priscilla Morris?

Date of birth: 1973 in Cambridge, England.

Education: Cambridge University, Spanish and Italian, but ending with Social Anthropology; University of East Anglia, MA in Creative Writing. PhD in Creative and critical writing.

Home: Annaghmakerrig Lodge House in Newbliss, Co Monaghan.

Family: Husband Rory. “He’s a composer and cellist.”

The Day Job: Full-time writer.

In Another Life: “I’d be a marine biologist.”

Favourite Writers: Michael Ondaatje; Angela Carter; Alice Walker; Ali Smith; Vladimir Nabokov; Franz Kafka.

Second Book: “I’m working on one.”

Top Tip: Persevere. “And edit until you can answer ‘yes’ to ‘is this the best I can do’.”

Website: priscillamorris.org

Instagram: @priscillamorriswriter

The debut

Black Butterflies

Duckworth, €14.00/ Kindle, €7.44

An artist and teacher, Zora stays in Sarajevo during the siege of 1992. Her family have fled, and she gathers with neighbours amid bombing and deprivation.

This astonishing debut shows kindness in the face of trauma, and illustrates how art helps to overcome a part of tragedy.

“It’s based on two family stories — of my father rescuing his parents in law, and a great uncle escaping after his art was burnt.”

The verdict: Devastating yet starkly beautiful. This heartbreaking story stays with you.