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Toronto Names English Prof Poet Laureate
Award-winning poet, novelist will serve as city’s literary ambassador
Prof. Dionne Brand, who holds a University Research Chair in the School of English and Theatre Studies, has been named Toronto’s poet laureate. As the city’s literary ambassador, she will attend events as an advocate for poetry, language and the arts. She’ll also create a literary legacy project.
Brand is the third person to hold the position, which honours a Toronto poet whose work displays excellence and addresses themes relevant to Torontonians. She will serve for three years, receiving an annual honorarium of $10,000.
“It’s an honour to be the poet laureate of Toronto,” says Brand. “I have a great passion for this city. In its multiplicity, it is constantly rich and surprising.”
A Governor General’s Award-winning author and poet, she has published nine volumes of poetry. They include No Language Is Neutral, which was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award; Land to Light On, which won a Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Book Award; thirsty, which received the Pat Lowther Award and was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize; and Inventory, a finalist for a Governor General’s Award.
Brand is also an award-winning novelist, capturing the Toronto Book Award for What We All Long For in 2006.
In addition, she received that year’s Harbourfront Festival Prize, which honours individuals who have made a substantial contribution to books and writing.
She has contributed to 17 anthologies, written dozens of essays and articles, and made four documentary films for the National Film Board. Ossuaries, her next collection of poems, will be published next year by McClelland and Stewart.
Brand’s writing has been translated into Italian and French and is published in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany.
“I am thrilled to see one of Toronto’s most distinguished writers serve in this important role,” says Toronto Mayor David Miller. “Her passion to tell Toronto stories to the world should serve as an inspiration to all Torontonians.”
Born in Trinidad, Brand moved to Canada at age 17 to study philosophy and English at the University of Toronto. She first taught at U of G from 1992 to 1994, then rejoined the faculty in 2004.