Di Brandt

Di Brandt served as Poetry Editor at Prairie Fire Magazine and Contemporary Verse 2 during the 1980s and 90s. She also served as Manitoba and Prairie Rep at the League of Canadian Poets National Council and the Writers' Union of Canada National Council for several years during these same years.

Di Brandt grew up in Reinland, a traditionalist Mennonite farming village in southern Manitoba, Canada, which she left at the age of seventeen. She studied English Literature at the Universities of Manitoba (BA Hons 1974, PhD 1993) and Toronto (MA 1975). She has taught Canadian Literature and Creative Writing at the Universities of Winnipeg (1985–95), Manitoba (1983-1993), Alberta (1996–97), Windsor (1997-2005) and Brandon MB (2005–present). She was Writer-in-Residence at the University of Alberta in 1995–96, and SSHRC Research Fellow in Canadian Literature at the University of Alberta in 1996–98. She has given literary readings, lectures, performances and workshops across Canada and around the world, including at the Universities of Trier, Germany; Graz, Austria; Aarhus, Denmark; Chiba, Japan; Canada House in London, UK; the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo; the Arts and Cultural Centre in Jerusalem, Palestine; Chateau de Lavigny, Switzerland; and the 13th International Poetry Festival in Medellin, Colombia, in 2005.

Di Brandt (born 31 January 1952) is a Canadian poet and scholar. She is Winnipeg's first Poet Laureate.