In this compelling collection of poems and art, the colour of living is red with excitement, pain, sunsets, blood, and tropical flowers. Along the way, the poet paints herself into the works of Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet and Maud Lewis. Diane Driedger confronts the body in two different contexts: through her participation in the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival and through her experience of undergoing breast cancer treatment and of being chronically ill. This is poetry that celebrates the body in all its varied forms.

Diane Driedger has been involved in the disability rights movement at the local, national and international levels for 40 years, with organizations such as Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI), the DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada, and Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD). She has published ten books, including four anthologies by women with disabilities, and The Last Civil Rights Movement: Disabled Peoples’ International (1989). She is also a poet and visual artist. Her most recent poetry book is Red With Living (2016). Diane is Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Disability Studies at the University of Manitoba.

Diane Driedger's profile page

"A naturalized Trinidadian through marriage, Diane, with an acute eye, successfully explores in poetry and art the contrasts between her Mennonite heritage in wintry Manitoba with the "letting go" carnival culture of ​Trinidad's opulent tropical landscape. Lines such as "mashing down the place" and "Women would go mad without Carnival" are a foil to "standoffish Canadians" and "my past a black statue dress/ unrumpled/ not even a swish." A bi-cultural tribute to both cultures."
-- Madeline Coopsammy, author of Prairie Journey

"Diane Driedger's artful poems and allusive paintings tumble us through a carnival of the rebellious body. Red With Living invites a nervy reassessment of pain and pain's intimate trespass upon the suffering, joyous body."
-- Méira Cook, author of Monologue Dogs