Dionne Brand

Dionne Brand

Brand in 2009
Born (1953-01-07) 7 January 1953
OccupationWriter and poet
EducationUniversity of Toronto (BA)
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (MA)
Genre
Notable worksLand to Light On
Ossuaries
Salvage: Readings from the Wreck
Notable awardsGovernor General's Award for Poetry (1997)
Griffin Poetry Prize (2011)
Windham-Campbell Literature Prize (2021)
OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature (non-fiction; 2025)

Dionne Brand CM FRSC (born 7 January 1953) is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012 and first Black Poet Laureate. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2017 and has won the Governor General's Award for Poetry, the Trillium Prize for Literature, the Pat Lowther Award for Poetry, the Harbourfront Writers' Prize, and the Toronto Book Award. Brand currently resides in Toronto.