Brand turns her clear, unflinching eye to issues of sex and male violence toward women; how Black women learn the erotic; the vulnerability of Black female life in the city; and the stereotypes of Black females in popular culture. She looks at the denial of racism by the white liberal cultural elite, the centrality of 'whiteness' in definitions of North American culture, the responses of the dominant culture to difference, and white appropriation and representations of Black culture. The history and experience of Toronto's Black community are illuminated in essays charting the differing issues and politics confronting white and Black immigrant groups, the growth of the Black consciousness movement, and the coming of age and the inner lives of a new generation of Blacks in the city. And she examines her personal history, further exploring her themes as she journeys home to Trinidad, tells of being turned down for a job, describes becoming a leftist, reviews her influences as a poet, and considers the process of filmmaking as a metaphor for the way each of us makes decisions about what we will - and will not - see.
Author
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. For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/dionne-b...
