Firmly situated in the canon of Canadian literature, David Chariandy has written three eloquent books. His first two – Soucouyant: A Novel of Forgetting and Brother draw on his Trinidadian heritage, and centre on the fragility of human ties. In Soucouyant a man returns home to care for his mother who has dementia; in Brother two siblings and their mother battle as working-class immigrants in Toronto. Chariandy’s first work of nonfiction is I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You, a letter to his 13-year-old daughter about growing up a black in Canada, and about living out the politics of race. He speaks with Michelle Langstone.

Supported by Canada Council for the Arts.