Myriam J. A. Chancy (born 1970) is a Haitian-Canadian-American writer and a fellow of the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

. , she is the Hartley Burr Alexander Chair of Humanities at

Scripps College Scripps College is a private liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1926, a year after the consortium's formation. Journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps pr ...

of the Claremont Consortium. As a writer, she focuses on Haitian culture, gender, class, sexuality, and Caribbean women's studies. Her novels have won several awards, including the Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Award and the

Early life

Chancy was born and raised in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, before relocating during childhood to

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and then to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. She attended the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Philosophy with Honors. Following that, she received her master's degree in English literature from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, Canada, where she wrote her thesis on "James Baldwin and the Dissolution of the Color Line". She received her Ph.D. in English at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

in 1994.

Career

Chancy has held several positions in academia over the course of her lifetime. She has taught English and Women's Studies at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, and at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Additionally, she has held visiting professorships at both

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

and the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. She formerly taught courses in African Diaspora Studies, Caribbean Literature, Postcolonial Literature and Theory, Feminist Theory, Women's Studies, and creative writing (Fiction) at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

as a Professor of English & Africana Studies. From 2002 until 2004, she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the academic arts journal ''Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism,'' receiving the Phoenix Award for Editorial Achievement from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. Chancy served on the editorial advisory board for the ''Journal of the Modern Language Association'' from 2010 to 2012 and on the Advisory Council in the Humanities of the

Fetzer Institute The Fetzer Institute, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was founded by broadcast pioneer and Detroit Tigers baseball team owner John E. Fetzer (1901–1991). He formed the institute to support work “designed to discover and enhance the integral rel ...

from 2011 to 2013. ''Spirit of Haiti'' (2003), her first novel, was a

Commonwealth Prize Commonwealth Writers (established in 2011) is the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation. It aims to inspire, develop and connect writers across the Commonwealth. Its flagship is a literary award for short stories, the Commonwealth S ...

finalist. It was followed by ''The Scorpion's Claw.'' Chancy's third novel, ''The Loneliness of Angels'' was the 2011 recipient of the Guyana Prize in Literature Caribbean Award for Best Fiction. Clancy's academic work ''Searching for Safe Spaces: Afro-Caribbean Women Writers in Exile'' (1997) served as one of the first books to address exile as a defining aspect of Afro-Caribbean women's experiences. Her second 1997 book, ''Framing Silence'', was the first book-length study devoted to Haitian women's literature as a field of analysis. ''Framing Silence'' examined six writers: Mme. Virgil Valcin, Annie Desroy,

Nadine Magloire Nadine Magloire (February 10, 1932 - December 25, 2021) was a Haitian-Canadian writer. Biography The daughter of journalist Jean Magloire and composer Carmen Brouard, she was born in Port-au-Prince and was educated at the Institution Sainte Rose ...

, Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Jan J. Dominique, Anne-christine d'Adesky and

Edwidge Danticat Edwidge Danticat (; born January 19, 1969) is a Haitian American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, '' Breath, Eyes, Memory'', was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written ...

. Chancy was granted early tenure on the basis of these two books. She published ''From Sugar to Revolution: Women's Visions of Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic'' in 2012 and received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for Literary Criticism in 2014. In 2021, her novel on the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

, '' What Storm, What Thunder'', was published by Harper Collins Canada and Tin House. It was shortlisted for the Caliba Golden Poppy Award, and the

Aspen Words Literary Prize The Aspen Words Literary Prize, established in 2018, is an annual literary award presented by Aspen Words, a literary center in Aspen, Colorado Aspen is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is ...

. Her 2024 novel ''Village Weavers'' was the overall winner of the

Literary works

* ''Searching for Safe Spaces: Afro-Caribbean Women Writers in Exile'' (

Temple University Press Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach ...

, 1997) * ''Framing Silence: Revolutionary Novels by Haitian Women'' (

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Pub ...

, 1997) * ''Spirit of Haiti'' (London: Mango Publications, 2003) * ''The Scorpion's Claw'' (

Peepal Tree Press Peepal Tree Press is a publisher based in Leeds, England which publishes Caribbean, Black British, and South Asian fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and academic books. Poet Kwame Dawes has said: "Peepal Tree Press's position as the leading pu ...

, 2005) * ''The Loneliness of Angels'' (Peepal Tree Press, 2010) * ''From Sugar to Revolution: Women's Visions of Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic'' (

Wilfrid Laurier University Press Wilfrid Laurier University Press, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is a publisher of scholarly writing and is part of Wilfrid Laurier University. The fourth-largest university press in Canada, WLUP publishes work in a variety of disciplines in the hum ...

, 2012) * ''What Storm, What Thunder'' (Harper Collins Canada, 2021) * ''Village Weavers'' (Tin House, 2024)

Awards

*1998: Outstanding Academic Book Award by ''Choice'' for ''Searching for Safe Spaces'' *2004: Phoenix Award for Editorial Achievement from the

Council of Editors of Learned Journals The Council of Editors of Learned Journals emerged from a series of informal gatherings of editors at the Modern Language Association of America (MLA). The gatherings were concerned with the same issues that are the subject matter of the organizati ...

*2011: Guyana Prize in Literature Caribbean Award (Best Fiction) for ''The Loneliness of Angels'' *2014: John S. Guggenheim Fellowship *2025: Fiction winner of

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, inaugurated in 2011 by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, is an annual literary award for books by Caribbean writers published in the previous year.Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chancy, Myriam J.M. 1970 births 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian women writers American Book Award winners Arizona State University faculty Black Canadian non-fiction writers Black Canadian novelists Black Canadian poets Black Canadian women novelists Black Canadian women poets Canadian women novelists Canadian women poets Dalhousie University alumni Haitian emigrants to Canada Haitian Quebecers Living people Louisiana State University faculty University of Cincinnati faculty University of Iowa alumni University of Manitoba alumni Vanderbilt University faculty Writers from Port-au-Prince Writers from Winnipeg Poets from Manitoba