30 ~ Friday, April 23, 1999 - North Shore News DIONNE BRAND Bi at the full and change of the moon by Dionne Brand Alfred A. Knopf Canada 302 pp, $32.95. Katharine Hamer Contributing Writer THERE are two things Dionne Brand hates: being called an activist and being asked what she refers to as “the immigrant question”, In town to promote her fatest novel, az te full and chanae of the moon, the Toronto-based writer would much rather talk about poctry than politics “Twi rite poetry out of Write a sentence without thinking how this word § never inte ing fiction where i — so what happened next?” Originally from Trinidad, and has been living in Canada since 1970, Althoug she has published two novels several volumes of poctry ¢her collection Land to Light On won the Governor General’s Award in 1997), she is often defined as much as a fighter of causes, as for her body of work. “There are a lot of writers who don’t like the system,” shrugs Brand — whose activism includes her involvement in black empowern women’s issues, and a 1983 stint in Grenada in support of the i ialist project. you write about life; about who we might be, then you get called an activist. | haven’: organized a meeting in 27 vea —and even then, | think I only made the coffee!” Brand also brushes aside traditional versions of “the immi- grant stery.” “There is always this narrative of normalcy (surrounding immigration),” she says. “It’s alw upposed to be about” finding a better life. But people leave (home) for all kinds of reason at the full and change of the moon is a diaspuric family saga, ranging from the slave plantations of the Caribbean to the bustling streets of modern-day Toronto. But for Brand, self- definition is shaped much more by circumstance than via national or cultural athliations. Her characters are affected by location: being a young West Indian at the time of conscription in World War Onc; being a bored housewife bound by convention in the 195@s. Her char- acters act, or react, according to expectation — and are often disappointed by their experiences. He bad come all the way here to serve the mother country, Great Britain. One night he wrote home to his mother, “We are treated neither as Christians nor as British citizens but as West Indian ‘niggers’ without anybody to be interested in us or lock AUTHOR Dionne Brand returns to Vancouver in July to teach a master class at UBC. efter us.” The letter arrived but his mother never opened it, nor could she bave read it if she had, but she kept it nailed to her stall, pointing to it and telling everyone of her son, the soldier, in the Great War.” “I don’t see my work as being about immigrants,” Brand says. “I see it as an exploration of the psyche in the Americas. (The idea of home) is such a complicated question — how can we say where we are from? Is it just ‘this town’ or is it all the experiences you've been through? Does it represent our fami- ly’s hopes for us?” Dear Mama, I wanted to tell you that your dream bad come truc, that I was living well, a manager in a store or a supervisor in an office full of computers — that I would come home one day dressed in lace and high heels and greet you as the person you wanted me to be — I know you wanted me to be my best self, but T don’t know what that is now. A sense of sadness and frustration permeates the novel’s denscly-layered prosc, through which ghostly figures act as guides tor the memory-haunted slaves, soldiers, mothers, and drug dealers who people the book. Brand says the novel itself is ¢ kind of haunt. “It’s about who inhabited this particular cube of space before, and what were their thoughts; their dreams; their anxieties.” Dionne Brand will be teaching a poetry masterclass at UBC July 10-17. Presented by: Garden Works, North Shore Printers Lid. What is an Odd~i~TEA Party? Do anything different or unique with a group of friends, have tea and then collect $10.00 from each programs in education, health, culture, literacy and more! Call For A Brochure & Entry Form: 984-4983 TD Bank, IGA, Creative Wonders Communications Create An Odd~i~TEA For Chari-TEA You Could Win A Night and Tea For Two at the Wedgewood participant. The money goes to four worthwhile community foundations to help fund North Shore