Shauntay Grant is a writer and performance artist who lives and works in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). She served as the third poet laureate for Halifax Regional Municipality from 2009 to 2011. Her stage play The Bridge premiered in 2019 at Neptune Theatre and won a 2020 Robert Merritt Award for Outstanding New Play. An award-winning author of children's literature, Shauntay's picture book Africville with illustrator Eva Campbell won the 2019 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards, the 2019 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards, and the 2019 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award. (click here to read more)Africville available in french!
Africville is now available in french! The french edition is translated by Josephine Watson and published by Bouton d'or Acadie. Click here for more details.
Against the Grain Theatre Commissions ‘Identity' song cycle
TORONTO – Premiering as a film in 2022, Against the Grain Theatre (AtG) has commissioned Identity: a Song Cycle for baritone Elliot Madore, by writer and poet Shauntay Grant and composer Dinuk Wijeratne. This song cycle will use original poetry and music to chart the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery. Building on the successes of AtG’s digital projects in 2020 and 2021, this song cycle will premiere as a film in 2022 with the intention to expand for a live-show production.
21 Black Futures premieres on CBC Gem
“What is the future of Blackness?” That urgent question is at the heart of these filmed monodramas written by 21 Black playwrights, directed by 21 Black directors and performed by 21 Black actors. Shauntay Grant's monodrama Beyere premiered on CBC Gem as part of season 1 of Obsidian Theatre's 21 Black Futures project. Click here to watch.