Literature / Civil rights & activism
Beth Brant
1941–2015 · writer, poet, editor
Detroit-born Mohawk writer who edited A Gathering of Spirit, the first anthology of Native American women's writing, and wrote Mohawk Trail.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 74- Birth name
- Beth E. Brant
- Also known as
- Degonwadonti · Kaieneke'hak
- Detroit years
- 1941–2015
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Brant was born in Detroit to a Mohawk father from the Tyendinaga territory in Ontario and a Scottish-Irish mother, and grew up in her paternal grandparents' Detroit home, where the family had moved from the reserve in search of opportunity. Her life moved between Michigan and Ontario. She began writing in her forties, and in 1984 edited A Gathering of Spirit, first as a special issue of the journal Sinister Wisdom and later as a book, bringing together writing by Native women from across North America. Her own books, Mohawk Trail (1985) and Food & Spirits (1991), mix stories and poems about family, racism, colonization and lesbian identity. With her partner Denise Dorsz she founded Turtle Grandmother Books, a clearinghouse for Native women's manuscripts. She died in Detroit in 2015.
Highlights
- Editor of A Gathering of Spirit (1984), the first anthology of Native women's writing
- Mohawk Trail (1985) and Food & Spirits (1991)
- Co-founded Turtle Grandmother Books (1982)
- Michigan Council for the Arts Creative Writing Awards (1984, 1986)