Daniel David Moses

Daniel David Moses (born February 18, 1952) is a First Nations poet and playwright from Canada.

Moses was born in Ohsweken, Ontario, and raised on a farm on the Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford, Ontario, Canada. In 2003, Moses joined the department of drama at Queen's University as an assistant professor. In 2019, he was appointed Professor Emeritus by Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.

He has worked as an independent artist since 1979 as a poet, playwright, dramaturge, editor, essayist, teacher, and writer-in-residence with institutions as varied as Theatre Passe Muraille, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Theatre Kingston, the University of British Columbia, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Windsor, the University of Toronto, the Sage Hill Writing Experience, McMaster University and Concordia University.

He is openly gay,[1] and also claims "brothers and sisters among Two-Spirit people."[2] Some of his works, therefore, reflect upon and explore the complexities of Native Two-Spirit or Queer identities.

Education

Daniel David Moses has an Honours Bachelor of Arts from York University and a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia.[3]

Career and accomplishments

In 1974 Moses had his first poem published, and considered himself to be an independent, Toronto-based artist and poet by 1979. However, he soon added the following titles to his repertoire: playwright, dramaturge, editor, essayist, teacher, and artist-, playwright- or writer-in-residence with various institutions (Theatre Passe Muraille, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the University of British Columbia, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Windsor, the University of Toronto (Scarborough), the Sage Hill Writing Experience, McMaster University and Concordia University).

He has also "...served on the boards of the Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts, Native Earth Performing Arts and the Playwrights Union of Canada (now the Playwrights Guild of Canada) and co-founded (with Lenore Keeshig-Tobias and Tomson Highway) the short-lived but influential Committee to Re-Establish the Trickster. In 2003, he was appointed as a Queen's National Scholar to the Department of Drama at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario where he is now an associate professor."[4]

Reviews/artistic reception
  • The Globe and Mail's Ray Conlogue claims that Moses "...writes with a poetic suggestiveness that recalls Tennessee Williams: he is operating as an artist, not as an explainer or apologist for his people."
  • Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail wrote, Moses is..a coroner of the theatre who slices open the human heart to reveal the fear, hatred and love that have eaten away at it. His dark play...can leave its audience shaking with emotion."
  • Nadine Sivak (PhD, University of Toronto) said, "Daniel David Moses' work, with productions in both professional theatres and educational institutions, meets the needs of the country at a point in its history where the First Nations can no longer be ignored. He is unique in his position as a First Nations playwright with a body of work of consistent and superior quality who has made a strong commitment to both the development of his art form by the braiding of cultures and to the telling of the stories that created this country – a trajectory that is not always commercial, but has become essential in educational contexts...Moses' exceptional artistry, demonstrated commitment, and ongoing creative growth serve to elevate the art form. His is a healing, exciting, historical and vitally necessary voice in Canadian theatre. Audiences and readers have just begun to experience the dazzling theatrical adventures he has to offer," (May 2001).[5]

Works
  • Delicate Bodies – 1980
  • The White Line – 1988
  • Coyote City: A Play in Two Acts – 1990 (nominated for a Governor General's Award)
  • The Dreaming Beauty – 1990 – (won 1990 Theatre Canada's National Playwrighting Competition)
  • Almighty Voice and His Wife – 1992
  • The Moon and Dead Indians – 1994 – (won 1994 Du Maurier One Act Playwrighting Competition)
  • The Indian Medicine Shows – 1996 – (won 1996 James Buller Award for Aboriginal Theatre Excellence – Playwright of the Year)
  • Big Buck City - 1998
  • Brébeuf's Ghost – 2000
  • Sixteen Jesuses – 2000
  • City of Shadows: Necropolite! – 2000
  • Songs of Love and Medicine – 2005
  • Pursued by a Bear: Talks, Monologues and Tales – 2005
  • Kyotopolis – 2008
  • River Range: Poems – 2009

Moses' poems have been published in international and national literary magazines, such as:

His poetry has also appeared or been featured in the following collections:

  • Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature, edited by Qwo-Li Driskill, Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti
  • Native Poetry in Canada, A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeanette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer
  • Native Writers and Canadian Writing, edited by W.H. New
  • The Last Blewointment Anthology, Volume II, edited by bill bissett
  • First People, First Voices, edited by Penny Petrone.[7]

Moses is a co-editor of An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English with Terry Goldie.[8]

References
  1. Moses, Daniel David (2007), Pursued by a Bear: Talks, Monologues and Tales, Exile Editions, Ltd., p. 112, ISBN 1-55096-646-4
  2. "Daniel David Moses - Canadian Aboriginal Poet Playwright". danieldavidmoses.com. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  3. "Daniel David Moses – Canadian Aboriginal Poet Playwright". danieldavidmoses.com. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  4. "Daniel David Moses – Canadian Aboriginal Poet Playwright". danieldavidmoses.com. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  5. "Daniel David Moses – Canadian Aboriginal Poet Playwright". danieldavidmoses.com. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  6. "Daniel David Moses – Canadian Aboriginal Poet Playwright". danieldavidmoses.com. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  7. "Daniel David Moses – Canadian Aboriginal Poet Playwright". danieldavidmoses.com. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  8. Campbell, Wanda (1994). "The rumour of humanity: an interview with Daniel David Moses". Windsor Review. 27.2 (Fall 1994): 55–63 – via ProQuest.
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