Beth Brant
Born in Detroit, poet and writer Beth Brant is the daughter of an Irish-Scots mother and a Mohawk father. She left high school at the age of 17. In her poems, she often addresses themes of feminism, Native rights, and family. Brant is the author of Mohawk Trail (1985), which includes poetry, stories, and essays; the short story collection Food and Spirits (1991); and the nonfiction prose volume Writing as Witness: Essay and Talk (1994). Her work has been translated into German, French, Chinese, and Italian.
Brant edited the anthology A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women (1988) and the interview collection I’ll Sing ’til the Day I Die: Conversations with Tyendinaga Elders (1995). Her own work has been included in the anthologies Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (1988, edited by Will Roscoe), Best Lesbian Erotica 1997 (edited by Tristan Taormino), Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals (1998, edited by Linda Hogan, Deena Metzger, and Brenda Peterson), and Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology (2001, edited by Jeannette Armstrong and Lally Grauer).
Brant’s honors include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Michigan Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council, and the Ontario Council and a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation. She has served as board chair of the Toronto organization Native Women in the Arts and has taught at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto.
Brant edited the anthology A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women (1988) and the interview collection I’ll Sing ’til the Day I Die: Conversations with Tyendinaga Elders (1995). Her own work has been included in the anthologies Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (1988, edited by Will Roscoe), Best Lesbian Erotica 1997 (edited by Tristan Taormino), Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals (1998, edited by Linda Hogan, Deena Metzger, and Brenda Peterson), and Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology (2001, edited by Jeannette Armstrong and Lally Grauer).
Brant’s honors include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Michigan Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council, and the Ontario Council and a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation. She has served as board chair of the Toronto organization Native Women in the Arts and has taught at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto.