Shauntay Grant

Shauntay Grant is a Canadian author, poet, playwright, and professor. Between 2009 and 2011, she served as the third poet laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia.[1] She is known for writing Africville, a children's picture book about a black community by the same name that was razed by the city of Halifax in the 1960s.[2] "Africville" was nominated for a 2018 Governor General’s Literary Award.[3] The book also won the 2019 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, and was among 13 picture books listed on the United States Board on Books for Young People's 2019 USBBY Outstanding International Books List.

Shauntay Grant
BornHalifax, Nova Scotia
OccupationWriter, professor
GenrePoetry, Children's Novel, Playwriting, Spoken Word
Notable works
  • Africville
  • Up Home
Website
shauntaygrant.com

Early life and education

Grant was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has a degree in music from Dalhousie University and a degree in journalism from the University of King's College.[4]

Career

Grant began publishing her work after she was approached by Sandra McIntyre, a senior editor at Nimbus Publishing, during an event where she read a poem from her teenage years. The poem, called "Remember Preston", talked about her childhood experiences in North Preston, and on McIntyre's suggestion, was turned into a children's book, released in 2008 by the name of Up Home. Similarly, her following two books, The City Speaks In Drums (2010) and Apples and Butterflies (2012), were based on poems written by Grant.[5]

While serving as Halifax's Poet Laureate, Grant organized the first national gathering of Canadian Poets Laureate, which happened in 2010.[6]

In 2019, Grant's play, The Bridge, premiered at Neptune Theatre in Halifax as a co-production between Neptune and 2b Theatre, in association with Obsidian Theatre.[7] She developed the play over several years and workshopped it with Eastern Front Theatre and Black Theatre Workshop. The Bridge tells the story of two estranged brothers in a rural Nova Scotian Black community.[8] Grant won Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian at the 2020 Merritt Awards for The Bridge, which was also nominated for Outstanding Production.[9][10] In 2020, her board book for children, My Hair is Beautiful, was selected as one of the Best of the Year by School Library Journal blogger Betsy Bird in her Fuse 8 Production review of children's books.

Grant is a former host of CBC Radio's national Poetry Face-Off and regional concert music program All The Best. She currently works as an associate professor for Dalhousie University, where she teaches creative writing.[11]

Awards and honours
  • Established Artist Award, Arts Nova Scotia. (2020)
  • Outstanding New Play, Robert Merritt Awards. (2020)
  • Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, Canadian Children's Book Awards. (2019)
  • Governor General's Literary Awards, finalist Canadian Children's Book Awards. (2019)
  • Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards finalist. (2019)
  • Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Awards finalist. (2019)
  • Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Writing and Publishing, Canada Council for the Arts. (2015)
  • Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature finalist, Atlantic Book Awards. (2011)
  • Jury Award for Outstanding Drama, Atlantic Fringe Fesetival. (2011)
  • Poet of Honour, Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. (2010)
  • Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award finalist. (2010)
  • Best Atlantic Published Book Award, Atlantic Book Awards. (2009)

Publications

Children's books
  • Grant, Shauntay (2008). Up home. Halifax, NS: Nimbus. ISBN 9781551096605.
  • Grant, Shauntay (2010). The city speaks in drums. Halifax, N.S.: Nimbus Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-1551097589.
  • Grant, Shauntay (2012). Apples and butterflies. Halifax, NS: Nimbus Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781551099354.
  • Grant, Shauntay (2017). The walking bathroom. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-1771085564.
  • Grant, Shauntay (2018). Africville. Toronto: Groundwood Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-1773060439.
  • Grant, Shauntay (2020). My hair is beautiful. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1771087667.

Plays
  • The Bridge Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press. (2021)

Spoken Word
  • The City Speaks In Drums. Halifax: Wordrhythm, 2010.[12]
  • Say Sumthin. Halifax: Wordrhythm, 2014.[13]

References
  1. "Halifax's Poet Laureate". www.halifax.ca. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  2. Patrick, Ryan B. (22 August 2018). "Why Shauntay Grant created a children's book to revisit the legacy of Africville". CBC. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  3. "Halifax author Shauntay Grant among nominees for Governor General's Literary Award". The Chronicle Herald. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  4. Knox, Carsten (18 June 2009). "My summer: Shauntay Grant, poet, broadcaster". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  5. Lyons, Kelly Starling (28 February 2020). "Day 28: Shauntay Grant". The Brown Bookshelf. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  6. Wilson, Kara (24 February 2015). "Trust Your Voice. Halifax's Third Poet Laureate opens up about poetry and life". ByBlacks.com. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  7. Arsenault, Tim (23 January 2019). "Neptune Theatre's The path to The Bridge a locally cultivated work". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  8. Thorne, Tara (24 January 2019). "The Bridge's community connections". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  9. "Color Purple, The Bridge nab Merritt nominations". Chronicle Herald. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  10. Mullin, Morgan (1 April 2020). "Here's everyone who won at Theatre Nova Scotia's Merritt Awards this week". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  11. "Shauntay Grant". Dalhousie University. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  12. "The City Speaks In Drums (Book & CD version - sample) by Shauntay Grant". shauntaygrant.com. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  13. "Shauntay Grant 'Say Sumthin'". LISA GREENAWAY || DJ LAPKAT. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
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