麻豆传媒

 

Shauntay Grant

Associate Professor

Shauntay Grant (photo by Steve Farmer)

Photo by Steve Farmer


Email: shauntay.grant@dal.ca
Mailing Address: 
3188 - 6135 University Ave McCain Building PO Box 15000 Halifax, N.S. B3H 4R2
 
Research Topics:
  • Black Nova Scotians
  • Jamaican Maroons
  • Black Vernacular Language in Children's Literature

Teaching

Education

  • BMus (麻豆传媒)
  • BJ (University of King鈥檚 College)
  • MFA (University of British Columbia)

Shauntay Grant is a poet, playwright, interdisciplinary artist and children鈥檚 author who lives and works in Kjipuktuk, Mi鈥檏ma鈥檏i (Halifax, Nova Scotia). As an artist with ancestral ties to the arrival of Black Loyalists, Jamaican Maroons, and Black Refugees to Nova Scotia in the late 1700s and early 1800s, creating art that illuminates African Nova Scotian and African diasporic histories and experiences is a vital part of her research and work. A former poet laureate for the City of Halifax, she 鈥渃reates artworks that are engaging and accessible, but also challenging, rigorous, and informed by deep research (The Royal Society of Canada).鈥 A听member of The Royal Society of Canada鈥檚 College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, her other honours include a Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Writing and Publishing from the Canada Council for the Arts, a Robert Merritt Award for her stage play The Bridge,听a Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award for Africville (a collaboration with illustrator Eva Campbell), and a Poet of Honour prize from the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. Her books have received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly,听Quill and Quire, and Canadian Review of Materials. Shauntay is co-founder of , an interdisciplinary arts group committed to researching and reinterpreting archival texts using visual, poetic, and performative erasure. Her recent publications include a听children's picture book with illustrator Jenin Mohammed called 听(HarperCollins, 2024), a听stage play called Beyere published as part of Obsidian Theatre's 听anthology (Playwrights Canada Press, 2023), and her edited anthology of solo plays by Black Canadian women (Playwrights Canada Press, 2023). Visit her online at

Selected Publications (alphabetically by genre):听听

Exhibitions:

Nova Scotia Profile (Pan African Heritage Museum Virtual Exhibition; curated by S. Grant) 2024

Children & YA

  • "When I Wrap My Hair" , with illustrator Jenin Mohammed. New York: HarperCollins, 2024.
  • "Snowy Mittens", with illustrator Candace Bradley. New York: Abrams, 2023
  • "Sandy Toes", with illustrator Candace Bradley. New York: Abrams, 2023
  • "My Fade Is Fresh", with illustrator Kitt Thomas. New York: Penguin, 2022.
  • "Africville", with illustrator Eva Campbell and translator Josephine Watson. Moncton: Bouton d'Or Acadie, 2020.
  • "My Hair is Beautiful",听听Halifax: Nimbus, 2019.
  • "Africville", with illustrator Eva Campbell. Toronto: Groundwood, 2018.
  • "The Walking Bathroom", with illustrator Erin Bennett Banks. Halifax: Nimbus, 2017.
  • "Apples and Butterflies",听with illustrator Tamara Thiebaux-Heikalo. Halifax: Nimbus, 2012.
  • "The City Speaks In Drums", with illustrator Susan Tooke. Halifax: Nimbus, 2010.
  • "Up Home",听with illustrator Susan Tooke. Halifax: Nimbus, 2008

Playwriting

  • "From The Ashes: Six Solo Plays. Edited Edition",听Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2023.
  • "Beyere",听stage play published in 21 Black Futures.听Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2023.
  • "The Bridge." Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2021.

Poetry

  • "t(her)e". Poetry In Motion. Halifax: Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, 2019.
  • "will (2)."Aubade. Boularderie Island Press, 2018.
  • "jazz fest". TOK Magazine.听Toronto: Diaspora Dialogues, 2018.
  • 鈥渕irror.鈥澨Contemporary Verse 2 (CV2).听Winnipeg: Contemporary Verse 2 (CV2), 2016.
  • 鈥减补蝉蝉颈苍驳.鈥 The Fieldstone Review. Saskatoon: The Fieldstone Review, 2015.
  • 鈥渇颈谤蝉迟蝉.鈥 Sankofa Black Heritage Collection: Firsts. Ed. Natasha Henry, Tom Henderson. Oakville: Rubicon, 2014.
  • 鈥淕谤补苍诲尘辞迟丑别谤.鈥 The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry. Calgary: Frontenac House, 2012.
  • 鈥渢(丑别谤)别.鈥 TOK: Writing The New City 鈥 Book IV. Toronto: Zephyr Press, 2009.

Spoken Word

  • "The City Speaks In Drums". Drifts. Halifax: Narratives in Space + Time Society/MindSea Inc., 2018.
  • "Say Sumthin."听Halifax: Wordrhythm, 2014.
  • 鈥淗辞尘别.鈥 iLit Digital Collection. Whitby: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2012.
  • 听鈥淟ife Lessons.听Live Ink! Online". Don Mills: Pearson Canada, 2011.

Theatre Productions"

  • "Identity: A Song Cycle,"听a song cycle commissioned by Against The Grain Theatre and created by poet/librettist Shauntay Grant, composer Dinuk Wijeratne, and baritone Elliot Madore. The work will premiere in 2024.
  • "Colonial Park",听a TYA Stage-play presented by Nepture Theatre Tour. Co., 2023
  • "Passing", a scene-play commissioned in 2021 by Eastern Front Theatre for its Micro Digitals Creation Project
  • "Beyere", a monodrama commissioned in by Obsidian Theatre for its 21 Black Futures Project, presented in partnership with CBC Gem in February 2021.
  • "KK", commissioned in 2020 by Boca Del Lupo for its touring Red Phone roject.
  • "The Bridge", a three-act drama that premiered on Neptune Theatre's MainStage in 2019 (a co-production between 2b theatre and Neptune, in association with Obsidian Theatre).
  • "WORD", a spoken word stage performance presented by Onelight Theatre as part of the 2016 Prismatic Arts Festival.

Art Gallery and Museum Exhibitions

  • "After This"听(Anna Leonowens Gallery, Creative Counter-Memoralizations: A Symposium Gathering, NSCAD University), 2022.
  • "Blackout"听(Erasure Art Collective performance installation at Jones Gallery Contemporary Art+ projects as part of the Atlantic Arts Symposium", 2022.
  • "A Calling", a multidisciplinary work created with visual artist Tyshan Wright and commissioned for '50 Things', an interactive art adventure presented by Zuppa Theatre and the Ecology Action Centre, 2021.
  • Every. Now. Then. Reframing Nationhood. (Art Gallery of Ontario exhibits multidisciplinary installation Grandmother, Teach Me 鈥 curated by Grant 鈥 as part of national group exhibition)听 2017
  • Canada: Day 1 (Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 exhibits collaborative work Abeng presented as part of national group exhibition) 2017
  • Stitched Stories: The Family Quilts (麻豆传媒 Art Gallery exhibits poetry, spoken word, and family heritage quilts; curated by Grant) 2016
  • Up Home (Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design exhibits text and original illustrations from the award-winning picture book) 2010
  • Up Home (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia exhibits text and original illustrations from the award-winning picture book) 2009
  • Up Home (Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia exhibits text and original illustrations from the award-winning picture book) 2009

Recognitions (Awards, Fellowships, Scholarships, Residencies)

  • Finalist Blue Spruce Award (Forest of Reading, 2024)
  • Inaugural Black Artist Recognition Award (Arts Nova Scotia, 2022)
  • Black Artist Recognition Award (Arts Nova Scotia, 2022)
  • Established Artist Recognition Award (Arts Nova Scotia, 2021)
  • Robert Merritt Award for "Outstanding New Play By A Nova Scotian" (Theatre Nova Scotia, 2020)
  • Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award (Canadian Children's Book Centre Book听Awards, 2019)
  • Finalist Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards (2019)
  • Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award Finalist (Nova Scotia Masterworks Awards Foundation, 2019)
  • Finalist for Governor General's Literary Award for Young People's Literature - Illustrated Books (Governor General's Literary Awards, 2018)
  • Playwright-In-Residence (2b theatre company, 2016鈥2018)
  • Berton House Writers鈥 Retreat Writer-In-Residence (Writers Trust of Canada, 2015-16 cohort)
  • Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Writing and Publishing (Canada Council for the Arts, 2015)
  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2014)
  • Arts Graduate Research Award (University of British Columbia, 2014)
  • Faculty of Arts Graduate Award (University of British Columbia, 2013)
  • Finalist for Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children鈥檚 Literature (Atlantic Book Awards, 2011)
  • Jury Award for Outstanding Drama (Atlantic Fringe Festival, 2011)
  • Finalist for Hackmatack Children鈥檚 Choice Book Award (2010)
  • Poet of Honour Award (Spoken Word Canada, 2010)
  • Best Atlantic-Published Book Award (Atlantic Book Awards, 2010)
  • Sauv茅 Scholars Fellowship (Jeanne Sauv茅 Foundation, 2009-10)
  • Poet Laureate of Halifax (Halifax Regional Municipality, 2009-11)