Dionne Brand reflects on the work of fellow U of T honorary degree recipient Toni Morrison: Globe and Mail

Photo of Toni Morrison receiving honorary degree at U of T in 2002

Toni Morrison, the Nobel laureate in literature, received an honorary degree from the ��߲ݴ�ý in 2002 (photo courtesy of ��߲ݴ�ý Archives)

Published: August 7, 2019

Reflecting on the life and work of Toni Morrison in the Globe and Mail, Dionne Brand writes the novelist and academic “had an enormous impact on language, on ideas, on breaking open historical silences.”

Morrison “was the greatest writer in English of the 20^th century and the 21^st, since this century is still in its infancy,” Brand writes.

Brand, a novelist and poet, is an alumna of the ��߲ݴ�ý and was an honorary degree recipient in 2018. Morrison, who died on Monday, received an honorary degree from U of T in 2002.

Morrison brought issues like slavery and race to the fore, with a beauty and a purpose, Brand writes.

“When you walked out of a Toni Morrison novel and onto the street you became more certain of your own viability. You knew something.”

Dionne Brand (photo by Colin McConnell/Toronto Star/Getty Images)

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