From the Ashes collects solo plays by Black Canadian women and womxn that together celebrate the hope, humour, and healing that can come after devastation and loss. From lighthearted comedies to heavy dramas, this anthology contains a multitude of stories on Blackness, love, motherhood, sexuality, trauma, racism, mythology, and more.

In Georgeena by Djanet Sears, a bride speeds down the highway, struggling to make sense of what led her to that moment. In benu by d’bi.young anitafrika, a young woman faces motherhood while still coming to terms with her own motherlessness. Makambe K Simamba’s A Chitenge Story follows a young woman who travels to her native Zambia to find and confront the man who abused her as a child. Ngozi Paul’s The Emancipation of Ms. Lovely chronicles a woman throughout different stages of her life that relate to her sexual awakening. In The Sender by Cheryl Foggo, a woman working for a global racism-elimination project encounters some technical difficulties when someone unexpectedly objects to the project’s restrictions. And in Kalale Dalton-Lutale’s Crybaby, a young woman falls in love for the first time, which opens a well of questions about her identity.

Shauntay Grant is a poet, playwright, interdisciplinary artist, and children’s author who lives and works in Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). A former poet laureate for the City of Halifax, she “creates artworks that are engaging and accessible, but also challenging, rigorous, and informed by deep research” (Royal Society of Canada). Her play The Bridge (Playwrights Canada Press) premiered at Neptune Theatre’s Fountain Hall, a co-production between 2b theatre company and Neptune in association with Obsidian Theatre Company. Set in a rural Black Nova Scotian community, this multilayered story of a family torn apart by betrayal received eleven Robert Merritt Award nominations, winning four, including for Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian. Grant’s first stage play Steal Away Home won the Jury Award for Outstanding Drama at the Atlantic Fringe Festival. Her other plays include KK (Boca Del Lupo, Red Phone project), Passing (Eastern Front Theatre, Micro Digitals project), and the ten-minute monodrama Beyere (Obsidian Theatre Company, 21 Black Futures project). An associate professor of creative writing at Dalhousie University, Grant holds professional degrees in creative writing, music, and journalism. Her theatrical work for young audiences has toured with Neptune Theatre’s Tour Company, and she has been commissioned by Against the Grain Theatre to write the text/poetry for Identity: A Song Cycle. She is the editor of the anthology From the Ashes: Six Solo Plays (Playwrights Canada Press) which collects groundbreaking solo plays by Black Canadian women and womxn. Her first solo stage play is in development with 2b theatre company. Grant is the author of several books for children including My Fade Is Fresh (Penguin), When I Wrap My Hair (HarperCollins), and Africville (Groundwood), which won a Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Her other honours include an Established Artist Recognition Award from Arts Nova Scotia, a Poet of Honour prize from Spoken Word Canada, a Joseph S. Stauffer prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and Arts Nova Scotia’s inaugural Black Artist Recognition Award.

Shauntay Grant's profile page