Di Brandt

{{Short description|Canadian poet and scholar (born 1952)}} {{Infobox academic | birth_name = Diana Janzen | birth_date = 31 January 1952 | birth_place = Winkler, Manitoba, Canada | occupation = Poet | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Canadian Mennonite Bible College {{Small|(BTh)}} * University of Toronto {{Small|(MA)}} * University of Manitoba {{Small|(BA, PhD)}} }} | thesis_title = Wild mother dancing : maternal narrative in contemporary writing by women in Canada and Quebec | thesis_url = http://hdl.handle.net/1993/9780 | thesis_year = 1993 | awards = {{Awards|McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award|1990|Agnes in the sky}} {{Awards|Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry|1996|Jerusalem, beloved}} }}

'''Di Brandt''' (''née'' '''Janzen'''; 31 January 1952)<ref name=":0">{{cite web |date=13 May 2004 |title=Di Brandt |url=https://quillandquire.com/authors/di-brandt/ |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=Quill and Quire |publisher=}}</ref> often stylized as '''di brandt''', is a Canadian poet and scholar from Winnipeg, Manitoba.<ref name=":0" /> She became Winnipeg's first Poet Laureate in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Posted |first=Ligia Braidotti |date=2017-12-11 |title=Dec 2017: Winnipeg welcomes first poet laureate |url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/times/2017/12/11/winnipeg-welcomes-first-poet-laureate |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Our Communities |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Life and career==

Brandt grew up in Reinland, a Mennonite farming village in southern Manitoba near Winkler.<ref>{{cite web|title=Di Brandt|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/di-brandt|accessdate=May 21, 2021}}</ref> Her first volume of poetry ''questions i asked my mother'' was published by Turnstone Press in 1987. Since then she has published seven more volumes of poetry, as well as literary criticism. Brandt earned a Bachelor of Theology from the Canadian Mennonite Bible College in 1972.<ref name=":1" /> In 1975, she earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Manitoba before going on to earn a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto in 1976.<ref name=":1" /> She earned her PhD in Canadian literature from the University of Manitoba in 1993, and has also taught Canadian literature and creative writing.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|title=Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> She was poetry editor at ''Prairie Fire Magazine'' and ''Contemporary Verse 2'' during the 1980s and 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}} She also served as Manitoba and Prairie Rep at the League of Canadian Poets National Council and the Writers' Union of Canada National Council.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}} In 2018, she became the first Poet Laureate of Winnipeg, a position she held through 2019,<ref>{{cite news|title=Meet Winnipeg's new poet laureate|publisher=Winnipeg Free Press|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/metro/Meet-Winnipegs-new-poet-laureate-568872351.html|accessdate=May 21, 2021}}</ref> and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by MacEwan University in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|title=UWinnipeg's Di Brandt recognized|date=12 November 2021 |publisher=University of Winnipeg|url=https://news.uwinnipeg.ca/uwinnipegs-di-brandt-recognized-with-honorary-doctorate/|accessdate=Nov 17, 2021}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

Poetry: *''questions i asked my mother'' (Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1987) *''Agnes in the sky'' (Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1990) *''mother, not mother'' (Toronto: The Mercury Press, 1992) *''Jerusalem, beloved'' (Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1995) *''Now You Care'' (Toronto: Coach House Press, 2003) *''The Lottery of History'' (Brandon, MB: Radish Press, 2008). Chapbook. *''Walking to Mojacar,'' with French and Spanish translations by Charles Leblanc and Ari Belathar (Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 2010) *''SHE: Poems inspired by Laozi,'' with ink drawings by Lin Xu (Brandon, MB: Radish Press, 2012). Chapbook. *''The Sweetest Dance on Earth: New and Selected Poems'' (Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 2022)

Essays: *''Wild Mother Dancing: Maternal Narrative in Canadian Literature'' (Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba Press 1993). *''Dancing Naked: Narrative Strategies for Writing Across Centuries'' (Toronto: Mercury Press 1996). *''Re:Generations: Canadian Women Poets in Conversation'' (Windsor, ON: Black Moss Press 2006), ed. with Barbara Godard. *''So this is the world & here I am in it'' (Edmonton: NeWest Press 2007). *''Wider Boundaries of Daring: The Modernist Impulse in Canadian Women's Poetry'' (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press 2011), ed. with Barbara Godard.

Collaborations: *''Awakenings: In Four Voices'', a collaborative poetry/music audio recording (CD) with Dorothy Livesay (posthumously), Carol Ann Weaver and Rebecca Campbell (2003). *''Emily, The Way you Are'', a one-woman chamber opera about the life and work of Emily Carr, with musical score by Jana Skarecky, premiered at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, ON, in 2011, featuring mezzo-soprano Ramona Carmelly and the Talisker Players directed by Gary Kulesha. *''Watermelon Syrup: A Novel'' with Annie Jacobsen and Jane Finlay-Young (WLUP 2011). *''Coyotes do not carry her away,'' a musical setting of Di Brandt's poems, by Manitoba composer Kenneth Nichols, commissioned by the Brandon Chamber Society and premiered at Brandon City Hall in 2012, featuring Naomi Forman (soprano), Catherine Wood (clarinet) and Ann Germani (harp).

==Awards and recognition== * Gerald Lampert Award for "best first book of poetry in Canada," for ''questions i asked my mother.'' * McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award for ''Agnes in the sky.'' * CAA National Poetry Prize for ''Jerusalem, beloved.'' * Foreword Gold Medal for Fiction for ''Watermelon Syrup.'' * Gabrielle Roy Prize for "best book of literary criticism in Canada," with Barbara Godard, for ''Wider Boundaries of Daring: The Modernist Impulse in Canadian Women's Poetry.'' * Brandon University President's Medal for Research, Teaching and Service 2011. * Canada Research Chair in Literature and Creative Writing, Brandon University, 2005–2011. * SSHRC Research Fellow, University of Alberta, 1996–1998. * Research Excellence Award, University of Windsor, 2006. * Gold Medal for Exceptional Service to Brandon University, 2009. * Research Fellow, Ledig House, New York, 2004. * Research Fellow, Hawthornden Castle, Scotland, 1999. * Research Fellow, Chateau de Lavigny, Switzerland, 2001. * Research Fellow, Fundacion Valparaiso, Spain, 2006. * Governor General's Award for Poetry nomination, for ''questions i asked my mother.'' * Governor General's Award for Poetry nomination, for ''Jerusalem, beloved.'' * Griffin Poetry Prize 2004 shortlist, for ''Now You Care.''<ref>{{cite web|title=2004 Griffin Poetry Prize Shortlist-Di Brandt|url=http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/shortlists/2004-shortlist/di-brandt/|access-date=13 August 2018}}</ref> * Trillium Ontario Book of the Year Award for ''Now You Care.'' * Pat Lowther Award for "best book of poetry by a Canadian woman, nomination, for ''mother, not mother.'' * Pat Lowther Award nomination, for ''Jerusalem, beloved.'' * Pat Lowther Award nomination, for ''Now You Care.'' * McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award nomination, for ''So this is the world & here I am in it.'' * McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award nomination, for ''Wild Mother Dancing: Maternal Narrative in Canadian Literature.'' * McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award nomination, for ''Walking to Mojacar,'' with French and Spanish translations by Charles Leblanc and Ari Belathar.

==See also== {{Portal| Poetry| Biography| Canada}} *Canadian literature *Canadian poetry *List of Canadian poets

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/shortlists/2004-shortlist/di-brandt/ Griffin Poetry Prize biography] * [http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/see-and-hear-poetry/a-g/di-brandt/ Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926225537/http://www.goshen.edu/mennonitepoetry/Home Mennonite Voices in Poetry] * [http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2017/13416/ Giessener Elektronische Bibliothek:] Julia Michael, ''Narrating communities: constructing and challenging Mennonite Canadian identities through narrative,'' thesis Universität Gießen 2017, therein ''Deconstructing Images of Motherhood in Di Brandt's "Mother, not mother",'' pp. 157–173

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandt, Di}} Category:1952 births Category:20th-century Canadian poets Category:21st-century Canadian poets Category:Canadian Mennonites Category:21st-century Canadian women poets Category:Canada Research Chairs Category:Living people Category:Mennonite poets Category:People from Winkler, Manitoba Category:University of Manitoba alumni Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Writers from Winnipeg Category:Municipal poets laureate in Canada Category:Manitoba Book Awards winners Category:Poets from Manitoba Category:20th-century Canadian women poets