Biographies and Publications – Dionne Brand and Bertold Brecht

Dionne Brand

Born 1953 in Trinidad and Tobago.
 
1970
Immigrates to Canada, studies at University of Toronto (BA) and the Ontario Insitute for Studies in Education (MA). Since she came to Canada, Brand has been an active fighter for the rights of marginalized communities, especially black people and women.

1997
Governor General’s Award for Poetry and the Trillium Award for Literature for Land to Light On.

2000
Takes part in the Transitional Identities Conference in Mainz, Germany.

2002
Thirsty is a finalist for the Trillium Book Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize, and won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award for Poetry.

2003–2004
Writer-in-Residence at the University of Guelph.

2006
What We All Long For wins the City of Toronto Book Award and is successfully published in Germany; becomes fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (now known as The Academies for Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada). Inventory is a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. She wins the Harbourfront Festival Prize for her contribution to the world of books and writing.

2008
Participates in the Frühjahrsbuchwoche in Munich.

2009
Teaches at the Banff Centre, Alberta.
Is appointed poet laureate of Toronto.

2011
Wins the Griffin Poetry Prize for Ossuaries (2010).

Dionne Brand has taught literature and creative writing in Ontario and British Columbia. She has also been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at St. Lawrence University in New York and has held the Ruth Wynn Woodward Chair in Women's Studies at Simon Fraser University. She currently holds a University Research Chair in English and Creative Writing at the University of Guelph. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2006.

Dionne Brand lives in Toronto.

 

Bertold Brecht

Born 1898 in Augsburg.

1917–1919
Studies medicine in Munich; attends theatre seminars; military service as medical orderly; involvement in soldiers’ council during November Revolution.

1920–1923
Attends rehearsals of Max Reinhardt in Berlin; Drums in the Night opens in Munich and Berlin; In the Jungle of Cities in Munich; Baal in Leipzig.

1924–1927
Moves to Berlin, meets Helene Weigel; friendship with George Grosz, Alfred Döblin; collaboration with Lion Feuchtwanger, Kurt Weill and Erwin Piscator.

1928
The Threepenny Opera premieres at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin to huge success.

1929–1932
Marries Helene Weigel; premiere of The Mother; release of the films Threepenny Opera and Kuhle Wampe.

1933
Flees with family to Zürich after the burning of the Reichstag; settles in Denmark; The Seven Deadly Sins opens in Paris.

1934–1938
Travels to London, Moscow, Paris and New York; completes first version of Life of Galileo.

1939–1940
Forced to move to Sweden, then to Finland; completes Mother Courage and Her Children and The Good Person of Szechwan.

1941
Moves with family, Steffin and Berlau via Moscow and Vladivostok to Los Angeles.

1942–1944
Meets German exiles in Los Angeles, works on screenplays such as Fritz Lang’s Hangmen Also Die; completes The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

1947
Life of Galileo premieres in LA in English translation with Charles Laughton; leaves for Switzerland after being interrogated by the House of Unamerican Activities Committee.

1948–1949
Moves to East Berlin, establishes the Berliner Ensemble; production of Mother Courage with Helene Weigel.

1950–1953
Takes up Austrian citizenship; elected vice president of the German Academy of the Arts and president of the German PEN Centre; receives the National Award of the GDR.

1954–1955
Berliner Ensemble moves to the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm; editions of his work are published in East and West Germany; accepts the Stalin Prize in Moscow.

1956
Brecht died 17 August 1956 in Berlin.