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Dionne Brand

Author profile

born

January 07, 1953 in Guayguayare, Trinidad and Tobago

gender

female

genre

Poetry, Women & Gender Studies

About this author

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As a young girl growing up in Trinidad, Dionne Brand submitted poems to the newspapers under the pseudonym Xavier Simone, an homage to Nina Simone, whom she would listen to late at night on the radio. Brand moved to Canada when she was 17 to attend the University of Toronto, where she earned a degree in Philosophy and English, a Masters in the Philosophy of Education and pursued PhD studies in Women’s History but left the program to make time for creative writing.

Dionne Brand first came to prominence in Canada as a poet. Her books of poetry include No Language Is Neutral, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, and Land to Light On, winner of the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Award and thirsty, finalist for the Griffin Pri...more As a young girl growing up in Trinidad, Dionne Brand submitted poems to the newspapers under the pseudonym Xavier Simone, an homage to Nina Simone, whom she would listen to late at night on the radio. Brand moved to Canada when she was 17 to attend the University of Toronto, where she earned a degree in Philosophy and English, a Masters in the Philosophy of Education and pursued PhD studies in Women’s History but left the program to make time for creative writing.

Dionne Brand first came to prominence in Canada as a poet. Her books of poetry include No Language Is Neutral, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, and Land to Light On, winner of the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Award and thirsty, finalist for the Griffin Prize and winner of the Pat Lowther Award for poetry. Brand is also the author of the acclaimed novels In Another Place, Not Here, which was shortlisted for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Trillium Award, and At the Full and Change of the Moon. Her works of non-fiction include Bread Out of Stone and A Map to the Door of No Return.

What We All Long For was published to great critical acclaim in 2005. While writing the novel, Brand would find herself gazing out the window of a restaurant in the very Toronto neighbourhood occupied by her characters. “I’d be looking through the window and I’d think this is like the frame of the book, the frame of reality: ‘There they are: a young Asian woman passing by with a young black woman passing by, with a young Italian man passing by,” she says in an interview with The Toronto Star. A recent Vanity Fair article quotes her as saying “I’ve ‘read’ New York and London and Paris. And I thought this city needs to be written like that, too.”

In addition to her literary accomplishments, Brand is Professor of English in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph.

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Books by Dionne Brand

Average rating: 3.54 · 606 ratings · 80 reviews · 23 distinct works

	What We All Long For 3.33 avg rating — 258 ratings — published 2005 — 6 editions	My rating:
	In Another Place, Not Here 3.50 avg rating — 68 ratings — published 1986 — 8 editions	My rating:
	At the Full and Change of the Moon 3.73 avg rating — 59 ratings — published 1999 — 5 editions	My rating:
	No Language Is Neutral 3.67 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 1990 — 2 editions	My rating:
	A Map to the Door of No Return 3.77 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 2001 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Thirsty 4.04 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 2002	My rating:
	Land to Light On 3.34 avg rating — 29 ratings — published 1997 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Inventory 3.75 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2006	My rating:
	Ossuaries 3.94 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Bread Out of Stone: Recollections, Sex, Recognitions, Race, Dreaming, Politics 3.92 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 1995 — 2 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Dionne Brand

“It is not the job of writers to life our spirits. Books simply do what they do. They sometimes confirm the capricious drama of a childhood living room. When you think that you are in the grace of a dance you come upon something hard.”
― Dionne Brand

2 people liked it

“..would I have had a different life
failing this embrace with broken things,
iridescent veins, ecstatic bullets, small cracks
in the brain, would I know these particular facts,
how a phrase scars a cheek, how water
dries love out, this, a thought as casual
as any second eviscerates a breath.”
― Dionne Brand, Thirsty

1 person liked it

“a boat, even a wrecked and wretched boat
still has all the possibilities of moving”
― Dionne Brand, Inventory

1 person liked it

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Polls

Pick our poet of the month for August

Anna Akhmatova

20 votes, 48.8%

Edna St. Vincent Millay

13 votes, 31.7%

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

4 votes, 9.8%

Dionne Brand

3 votes, 7.3%

P.K. Page

1 vote, 2.4%

41 total votes

12 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Caribbean Authors: Puerto Rico - Trinidad & Tobago	3	59	Nov 06, 2009 03:59am
Book freaks: The End of Bookstores	90	236	Mar 23, 2011 12:56pm
Around the World ...: Trinidad and Tobago	3	34	Feb 19, 2012 11:37am

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Dionne's Fans (6)

Dionne Brand

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Dionne Brand

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Dionne Brand

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Dionne Brand