Dionne Brand was born in 1953 in Guayguayare, Trinidad and was educated at the University of Toronto and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Brand was the founder and editor of Our Lives, Canada's first newspaper for black women. She has also worked on Fuse Magazine, The Harriet Tubman Review, Canadian Women Studies, and Research for Feminist Research. She also belongs to several community organizations including the Immigrant Women's Center and the Caribbean Peoples' Development Agency. Brand's involvement in politics is prevalent in her books, Chronicles of the Hostile Sun, Rivers Have Sources, Trees Have Roots: Speaking of Racism and Primitive Offensive, and Land to Light On, for which she received a Governor General's Award. Brand has also directed Sister's in Struggle, Long Time Comin' and Older, Stronger, Wiser for the National Film Board of Canada.