45. Canisia Lubrin in Conversation with Dionne Brand

Code Noir, the debut fiction work from acclaimed, award-winning poet, editor, and writer Canisia Lubrin is every bit as dazzling as one would expect: hailed as “brilliant, challenging and ecstatic” by the Globe and Mail. Departing from the “Code Noir” historic decrees in 17th century France which defined the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire, the book of the same name has 59 linked fictions, each vivid, multi-layered, and inventive. In conversation with Dionne Brand, these two literary stars of unrivaled daring and intellect discuss Lubrin’s work to date, the process of braiding these stories, and the intellectual and emotional vigour behind them.

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This event is organized in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts to celebrate the finalists and winners of the Governor General’s Literary Awards.

Presented in partnership with Hogan’s Alley Society.

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Dionne Brand

Dionne Brand is the award-winning author of twenty-three books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Brand is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, among them the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Toronto Book Award, the Trillium Book Prize and the 2021 Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction. She is the Editorial Director of Alchemy, an imprint of Knopf Canada, and University Professor Emerita at the University of Guelph. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Canisia Lubrin

CANISIA LUBRIN’s books include Voodoo Hypothesis and The Dyzgraphxst. Lubrin’s work has been recognized with the Griffin Poetry Prize, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, the Derek Walcott Prize, the Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Stars prize, and others. She studied at York University and the University of Guelph, where she now coordinates the Creative Writing MFA in the School of English & Theatre Studies. In 2021, Lubrin received a Windham-Campbell prize for poetry, and the Globe & Mail named her Poet of the Year. Code Noir: Metamorphoses is her debut fiction, and includes stories listed for the Journey Prize (2019, 2020), Toronto Book Award (2018) and the Shirley Jackson Award (2021). Born in St. Lucia, Lubrin now lives in Whitby, Ontario, and is poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart.