Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné (born 1986) is an English-speaking poet and illustrator from Trinidad and Tobago. She writes about family, women and the environment.
Life Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné was born in 1986 in Saint Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago. She lives in Sangre Grande and holds a degree in English literature from the University of the West Indies. On the Saint Augustine campus she attended Jennifer Rahim's courses.
She has one son.
Career She is regularly invited to participate in the Bocas Lit Fest with fellow poets Vahni Capildeo, Celia Sorhaindo and Opal Palmer Adisa. In 2021, she became a jury member for the Bocas Prize for Poetry.
In 2017, she was considered "one of the most in-demand local artists" by the Trinidad Daily Express. Her poems are regularly published in literary journals such as Small Axe Journal, Room Magazine, Cordite Poetry Review, The Literary Review and Poetry London.
Exhibitions
2013 : Horizons Art Gallery (Trinidad and Tobago) with Katrina Inglis 2013 : « Criatura », Art Society Gallery (Trinidad and Tobago) 2016 : Saint Francis College Gallery with Jacqueline Bishop, Laura James, Iyaba Mandingo, Michele Voltaire Marcelin, Opal Palmer Adisa and Mervyn Taylor
Books
Coming Up Hot: Eight New Poets from the Caribbean, Peekash Press (2015) as illustrator : Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure by Joanne C. Hillhouse (2017) Doe Songs (2018) The Sea Needs No Ornament, eds. Loretta Collins Klobah (2020) as illustrator : The Jungle Outside by Joanne C. Hillhouse (2021)
Art
Poetry Boodoo-Fortuné writes about family love, parent-child relationships and childhood trauma. Doe Songs was described as "an intergenerational web of women stories". In her poetry, women's love is sometimes cruel and destructive, but can become a source of comfort.
She compares women's condition in society to the current destruction of the environment, which is an ecofeminist theme. Her descriptions of Trinidad's luscious landscapes avoid exoticism: according to Yvonne Reddick, the wilderness in Boodoo-Fortuné's poetry is unsettling and "barely Christianised".
She writes in free verse in a surrealist style. She frequently uses animal imagery to convey themes of mythological transformation. Her poetry is inspired by Pascale Petit and Derek Walcott.
Illustration Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné is also a painter. She mainly uses watercolours and acrylic paint to represent women.
She regularly incorporates poetry verse in her illustrations.
Awards
2009 : Charlotte and Isidor Paiewonsky Prize from The Caribbean Writer journal 2012 : Small Axe Poetry Prize 2015 : Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize from Bocas Lit Festival 2016 : Wasafiri New Writing Prize for Poetry 2019 : Bocas Prize for Poetry
See also
Kei Miller Claudia Rankine Kaie Kellough
References