Althea Prince (born 1945) is a

Black Canadian Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent. Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...

author, editor and professor. Her novels and non-fiction essays are known for exploring themes of love, identity, the impact of migration, and finding a sense of belonging in Canada. She is the sister of Ralph Prince and five others Born in

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

, Dr. Althea Prince has resided in Canada since the 1960s. She has taught Sociology, first at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

and also at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Currently, she teaches Caribbean Studies at The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

. In 2011, she won the Kay Livingston Award from Ryerson University for excellence in teaching and mentoring students.

Awards

In 2012 she was shortlisted as one of Canadian Immigrants Top 25 immigrants. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Prince was Managing Editor of the publishing company Canadian Scholars' Press & Women's Press. She has been described as "a stellar African Canadian intellectual and writer" by reviewers. Her literary awards include: The Children's Book Centre "Choice" Award for her children's book ''How the Star Fish Got to the Sea''. In 2007, she was recognized by the Government of Antigua and was awarded the Antigua and Barbuda International Writers' Festival First Annual Award for Literary Excellence for services to the arts and literature. In 2014, the Canadian arts body the

Harbourfront Centre Harbourfront Centre is a cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at 235 Queens Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the Government of Canada to create a waterfront park, it became a no ...

named Prince as
"Canadian Literary Pioneer"

Politics and community organizing

An author who is active in the community with organizations, Prince is currently listed in the Who's Who in Black Canada. As a community activist, she has received awards from the

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by O ...

to work with local women's organizations conducting life writing workshops with immigrant women and girls to bring their voices into mainstream literature. She has edited two anthologies of work ''Beyond the Journey'' (2013) and ''ReImaging the Sky'' (2012). Prince has commented on the importance of bringing newcomer voices into the Canadian lexicon through teaching life writing and publishing diverse newcomer authors: "It is important for them to find their voice within....Immigrants' confidence is shaken when moving to a new place. The voice within the writing helps them feel acknowledged." Dr. Prince has commented on issues of cultural identity on the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

, exploring issues of anti-discrimination, and the politics of Black women's hair. She has listed some of her favorite authors, including The New Yorker's Malcolm

Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is a Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published eight books. He is also the host of the podcast ''Revisionist ...

and children's author Itah Sadu.

Critical reception

Canadian literary critics have lauded her fiction for writing "with such sensuality and grace that it creates a heady spell, drawing the reader into the center of the story", but ''

January Magazine ''January Magazine'' is an internet-based book-related publication. Founded by author Linda L. Richards in 1997, ''January Magazine'' has added various sections and offshoot publications since. The magazine is physically based in Vancouver, Bri ...

'' has also critiqued her work for having so many competing literary themes that her novels "lack a true magnetic center". The Canadian literary magazine ''

Quill & Quire ''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...

'' called her writing style "a mixture of polemic and memoir – that makes Prince's essays provocative and politically engaging - is not suited to fiction". However, other critics have compared her academic essays to her contemporaries

bell hooks Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952 – December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Be ...

and

Audre Lorde Audre Lorde ( ; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, professor, philosopher, Intersectional feminism, intersectional feminist, poet and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Bl ...

, noting "Prince references histories that are too often eclipsed or erased in accounts of African Canadians in the big city." Her essays on anti-racism, gender and oppression, which were collected in the book "Being Black" are reminiscent of Audre Lorde's often cited "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House". This body of scholarship has supported the development of

third-wave feminism Third-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth-wave feminism, fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second-wave feminism, second wave, Generation X, Gen X ...

in Canada and in the academy. In her 2001 academic text for women's studies, ''Feminisms and Womanisms: A Women's Studies Reader'', Prince collaborated with both second wave and third wave feminists to capture the ongoing debates around intersections of gender, class, sexual orientation, immigration and race. Featured authors included

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

Betty Friedan Betty Friedan (; February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book '' The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the s ...

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and political problems, especially about race and sexuality. She starred in the Ame ...

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...

and

Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalization author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Ga ...

. One reviewer writes about Prince's essay "Racism Revisited": "Prince describes first-hand the racism she experienced while viewing an apartment. After showing Prince the apartment, the landlady explained that Prince would be unable to rent the apartment because she would be forced to share a bedroom with a white tenant. Prince did not mind this, but as she spoke further with the landlady, she realized that her level of comfort was not the issue in question. Prince recalls: "It finally penetrated my conscious that I was being told that my skin color made me an undesirable person' (29). With this essay, Prince delivers a strong message as she learns that her skin color matters more to others than it does to herself."

Works

Anthologies

*Althea Prince, et al.. ''Feminisms and Womanisms: A Women's Studies Reader'' (2001). Canadian Scholars' Press. *''The Politics of Black Women's Hair'' (2009) *''In the Black'' (2012) *''Beyond the Journey'' (2013) *''Beyond the Journey: Women's Stories of Settlement and Community Building in Canada'' (2014) *''The Black Notes: Fresh Writing by Black Women and Girls'' (2017)

Fiction

*''Loving This Man'' (2001) *''Ladies of the Night'' (2005)

Non-fiction

*''Being Black'' (2001)

Children's literature

*''How the Star Fish Got to the Sea'' *''How the East Pond Got Its Flowers'' (under name Althea Trotman)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Althea 1945 births Black Canadian novelists Living people Black Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Black Canadian non-fiction writers