Did you know that people waking up from a coma speaking a foreign language is an actual thing? Yes, it’s true. It’s called bilingual aphasia, and this condition supposedly occurs when one area of the brain that learns a language is damaged while another remains untouched. Michel Paradis, a neuro-linguist at McGill University in Montreal, says that this happens so much it doesn’t surprise him.

This week on Belly we’re chatting to Naima Brown, a writer whose second novel Mother Tongue explores this well documented but rare phenomenon woven into the story of a character named Brynn who awakes from a coma speaking fluent French, and seizes the opportunity to start a new life in Paris, a seismic personal transformation that leaves a slew of shattered lives in its wake.

Author Naima Browns' creative and professional life has spanned continents, cultures, and mediums. These days she’s based in Ballina where she draws on a rich tapestry of life experience —from growing up in Northern California to living in Yemen and Afghanistan.

Naima has spent the last twelve years working in News & Current Affairs as a producer and filmmaker with her non-fiction appearing in Vogue, The Guardian, the ABC to name a few.

She is the founder of Duststar Productions, an audio production company with such projects as Age Against the Machine in collab with Melissa Doyle, an Empowering Guide for Women Ageing on Their Own Terms. Naima’s also the co-founder of Elli, a digital platform for women ageing with purpose & meaning.

Her short fiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and this weekend Naima will be bringing her latest novel Mother Tongue to The Byron Writers Festival 2025 program, where she’ll be appearing in 3 sessions across the weekend.

Before all of that, we literally kick the show off with the vivacious and energetic MC Medicinal aka Alex Mitchinson freestyling his gifts into the studio mics and presenting us with his latest track, released earlier this year called Forever featuring Tashmeen. 

Warning: This ingredients of this track are highly addictive!