Edward M. Armfield Sr. Professor of English, Davidson College, North Carolina · Trinidadian-American Author · U.S. Cultural Ambassador, 16 Countries
She arrived in America at nineteen with ten dollars and an unspoken dream. A year later, she was working for Nina Simone. More than fifty years on, Dr. Brenda A. Flanagan is one of the most decorated voices in Caribbean and African American literature — and she is only just beginning to tell her full story.
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A prize-winning debut novel set in the Caribbean — lyrical, raucous, and deeply human. The book that launched Dr. Flanagan's literary career.
Short stories, meditations, and prose poems celebrating Caribbean women's resilience, humor, and endurance. Vivid, essential, and unforgettable.
A sequel to You Alone Are Dancing. A moving, timely novel about faith, love, power, and the rise of radical Islam in the Caribbean.
How Czech women artists and writers went underground to resist totalitarianism before 1989. Co-authored with Czech scholar Hana Waisserová.
If you're discovering Dr. Flanagan for the first time — through the Charlotte Observer, through a class, through a reference to Nina Simone — here is where to begin.
Dr. Brenda A. Flanagan is the Edward M. Armfield Sr. Professor of English at Davidson College and an internationally celebrated author of Caribbean and African American fiction. Her novels and short stories — including You Alone Are Dancing, Allah in the Islands, and In Praise of Island Women — have been published by the University of Michigan Press and Peepal Tree Press. She is a two-time Fulbright Specialist, a U.S. Cultural Ambassador who has represented the United States in 16 countries, and the winner of the Canute A. Brodhurst Prize from The Caribbean Writer. Her forthcoming memoir tells the story of her year working with Nina Simone.
For media use: This short bio (under 100 words) is approved for use in press coverage, event programs, and book club materials. Please confirm with Dr. Flanagan before publication. Contact: Use the media inquiry form.
Dr. Brenda A. Flanagan is the Edward M. Armfield Sr. Professor of English at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, where she has taught creative writing, Caribbean literature, and African American literature for nearly thirty years. Born in Trinidad, she arrived in the United States in 1967 and, within a week, found herself working as an au pair for jazz and civil rights icon Nina Simone — an experience that introduced her to African American literature and set her on the path toward a writing life. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, where she received three Hopwood Awards in fiction, drama, and short story.
Her published fiction includes the prize-winning novel You Alone Are Dancing (University of Michigan Press), its sequel Allah in the Islands (Peepal Tree Press, 2009), and the short story collection In Praise of Island Women and Other Crimes (Peepal Tree Press). Her most recent work, Women's Artistic Dissent: Repelling Totalitarianism in Pre-1989 Czechoslovakia (Lexington Books, 2023), co-authored with Czech scholar Hana Waisserová, examines women artists who went underground to resist totalitarianism. Dr. Flanagan has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (three times), the Fulbright Program (Kazakhstan 2019; South Africa 2023), the Mellon Foundation, and the James Michener Foundation. As a U.S. Cultural Ambassador for the Department of State, she has represented the United States in 16 countries and was the first American writer sent to Central Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union. She is currently completing a memoir about her year with Nina Simone.
For media use: This medium bio (~250 words) is suitable for event programs, conference bios, and longer press mentions. Please confirm use with Dr. Flanagan before publication.
Dr. Brenda A. Flanagan is the Edward M. Armfield Sr. Professor of English at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina — the first faculty member to hold the Armfield chair, named to that position in May 2006. She has taught creative writing, Caribbean literature, and African American literature at Davidson since 1994 and has been a full-time faculty member since 1996. In May 2019, the College awarded her the Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Award, the highest accolade bestowed on a professor at Davidson College.
Born in 1948 in Trinidad, Dr. Flanagan grew up reading voraciously — by twelve, she had read everything except the science books in the mobile library van that came through her village. When her family could no longer afford her school fees, she left at seventeen and went to work in a cannery, sorting peas, writing stories at night about the factory women she worked alongside. A chance encounter with her former English teacher — by then a newspaper editor — got her out of the cannery and into political journalism as a cub reporter, and eventually onto a plane to New York City in 1967 with ten dollars, a scrap of paper bearing the name of an American social worker, two bottles of rum, and a pint of pepper sauce.
A week after arriving in the United States, she was introduced to Nina Simone at RCA Victor Studios in Manhattan, and was hired as a nanny for the singer's daughter in Mount Vernon, New York. That year in Simone's household — and particularly access to Simone's personal library of books by Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, and other Black writers — transformed Dr. Flanagan's understanding of what literature could do. It set her irrevocably on the path toward the Ph.D. she would eventually earn at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she received three major Hopwood Awards in fiction, drama, and short story.
Her fiction debut, You Alone Are Dancing (University of Michigan Press, 1990; Ann Arbor Paperbacks), established her voice as a lyrical, unflinching chronicler of Caribbean life. Its sequel, Allah in the Islands (Peepal Tree Press, 2009), explored the growth of radical Islam in the Caribbean with the nuance and moral complexity that distinguish all of her work. Her short story collection, In Praise of Island Women and Other Crimes (KaRu Press, 2005; Peepal Tree Press), celebrates Caribbean women's resilience with humor, stoicism, and deep human recognition. Her most recent book, Women's Artistic Dissent: Repelling Totalitarianism in Pre-1989 Czechoslovakia (Lexington Books, December 2023), co-authored with Czech scholar Hana Waisserová, grew from years of cultural exchange with Czech writers and artists and was presented at the Anglo-American University in Prague in March 2024 and featured at UCLA in 2025.
In 2018, her short story "A Dance With My Brother" won the Canute A. Brodhurst Prize from The Caribbean Writer, Volume 31 — a special issue dedicated to Derek Walcott. That same year, an excerpt from her memoir manuscript was published by Ms. Magazine (October 16, 2018). In October 2024, the Charlotte Observer published an extended profile tracing her life's journey from Trinidad to Nina Simone's household to Davidson College.
As a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State, Dr. Flanagan has represented the United States in 16 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Chad, Panama, India, Czech Republic, Ireland, Brazil, and Romania. She was the first American writer to be sent to Central Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the first Afro-Caribbean writer sent to Libya in 25 years. In June 2023, she presented at the 21st International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities at the Sorbonne in Paris and read at the Irish Writers' Centre in Dublin at the invitation of the American Embassy. She has received three National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, two Fulbright Specialist awards (Kazakhstan, 2019; South Africa, 2023), the Mellon Foundation Grant, the James Michener Creative Writing Fellowship, a North Carolina Arts Council literary nonfiction award, a Jessie Dupont Fellowship at the UNC Humanities Center, and the Robert Morris University Patricia Rooney International Scholar designation.
Dr. Flanagan is currently completing a memoir about her year with Nina Simone, tentatively titled Mississippi God Damn, and is in discussion with a publisher. The book traces both her own journey and Simone's connections to the civil rights movement. She has three children, who encouraged her to complete it.
For media use: All facts in this biography are verified against primary sources. Please contact Dr. Flanagan before publication to confirm any recent updates. Use the media inquiry form.
Dr. Flanagan has served as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State, representing the United States in 16 countries across the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Notable firsts:
Since the fall of the Soviet Union. Reported to be the first since Langston Hughes.
In 25 years — and the first speaker since America and Libya resumed relations.
Countries visited in an official capacity include: Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Chad, Panama, India, Czech Republic, Ireland, Brazil, Romania. (Source: Davidson College faculty page. Full list may have been updated — confirm with client.)
All books listed below are confirmed publications by Dr. Brenda A. Flanagan of Davidson College. Books by other individuals sharing the name "Brenda Flanagan" are not included.
Dr. Flanagan's prize-winning debut novel is set in the Caribbean and draws on the deep rhythms of island life — its talk, its silence, its sorrows and its joy. Lyrical, raucous, and wholly original, it established her as a vital voice in Caribbean and African American fiction. The novel grew from her time at the University of Michigan, where it was recognized with the major Hopwood Awards. It remains her most widely read work.
"In Brenda Flanagan's novel, there's talk and talk, the life-long dance of talk — it's lyrical, raucous, sorrowful, vibrant, inventive." (Source: brendaflanagan.com — attribution unverified; confirm before publishing as a blurb)
Best for: Readers of Caribbean literature · African American fiction · literary fiction · book clubs · university Caribbean studies courses · African American literature courses
A collection of short stories, meditations, and prose poems that celebrates and examines Caribbean women's lives with warmth, precision, and unmistakable literary power. Dr. Flanagan writes women who endure with resilience, stoicism, and humor — women whose stories are seldom told and whose voices, once heard, are unforgettable. The title piece is among her most celebrated shorter works.
Best for: Readers of Caribbean short fiction · women's literary fiction · book clubs (strong discussion material) · university courses on Caribbean and African diaspora literature · library collections in Caribbean literature
A sequel to You Alone Are Dancing. Under the shadow of corporate imperialism — disenfranchised islanders, corrupt government ministers, and scheming U.S. oil companies — Beatrice Salandy finds love with Abdul, second in command of a rising radical Muslim movement. With welfare schemes, grass-roots organizing, and an air of incorruptibility, the movement becomes wildly popular with the island's poorest classes. But as events unfold, Beatrice begins to question Abdul's sincerity and honesty, and he becomes a fascinatingly unreliable voice in this moving and timely novel.
Written with the nuance and fairness that define Dr. Flanagan's best work, Allah in the Islands refuses easy judgments about faith, power, or belonging — and in doing so, it speaks to questions that have only grown more urgent since its publication.
Best for: Readers of literary fiction · Caribbean literature · novels about faith and politics · book clubs seeking strong discussion material · courses on Islam in literature or postcolonial fiction
Co-authored with Czech scholar Hana Waisserová, this rigorous and moving scholarly work unearths and celebrates the women artists, writers, sculptors, and painters who went underground to preserve their humanity — and their art — under Czechoslovak totalitarianism before 1989. It examines how women's creative resistance operated in the shadows, why that work has been undervalued, and what it means for our understanding of art, freedom, and political courage.
The book grew from Dr. Flanagan's years of visits to the Czech Republic as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador and from her friendship with Czech surrealist artist Eva Švankmajerová. Presented at the Anglo-American University in Prague (March 2024) and featured at UCLA's Slavic Department (2025).
Best for: Scholars of Eastern European history · women's studies · political art · Cold War literary studies · feminist literary criticism · university libraries · courses on totalitarianism and artistic resistance
Dr. Flanagan's forthcoming memoir is the story she has been carrying for more than fifty years: the year she spent as a nanny for Nina Simone in Mount Vernon, New York — and what that year taught her about African American literature, civil rights, survival, and what it means to become a writer. The title, a reference to Simone's powerful protest song, is used metaphorically to represent what is still unfinished and still deplorable in American life.
The memoir also traces Simone's connections to the civil rights movement and her lasting influence on those who knew her — including Dr. Flanagan herself, who went on to earn a Ph.D., teach African American literature for decades at Davidson College, and travel the world as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador. An excerpt was published by Ms. Magazine in October 2018.
⚠️ This memoir has not yet been officially announced. The title, publisher, and publication date are subject to confirmation by Dr. Flanagan. The information above is drawn from the Charlotte Observer (October 2, 2024) and Ms. Magazine (October 16, 2018). Do not list a release date until confirmed.
Everything a journalist, editor, or producer needs to cover Dr. Brenda A. Flanagan accurately and quickly. All information below has been verified against primary sources.
Dr. Brenda A. Flanagan is available for speaking engagements, readings, lectures, workshops, and university, library, festival, book club, and media appearances. She brings to every engagement a rare combination: five decades of literary scholarship, personal history that intersects with the most important cultural and political currents of our time, and the ability to speak with both academic precision and human warmth.
The civil rights movement, protest music, and the literary imagination — drawn from Dr. Flanagan's forthcoming memoir and decades of teaching.
What the Caribbean canon offers American readers — and what is lost when it is overlooked. For university, library, and general audiences.
From Langston Hughes and James Baldwin to the present — how Black writers have documented survival, resistance, and joy.
How Czech women artists and writers resisted totalitarianism before 1989 — and what their courage means today. Co-presented with Hana Waisserová where possible.
What it means to represent America abroad as a Black Caribbean woman — from Kazakhstan to Libya to Dublin to Prague.
Workshop and lecture formats available. Drawing on 30+ years of teaching and four published books, Dr. Flanagan writes and teaches from the inside.
Growing up reading Shakespeare in Trinidad — and why Hamlet was not as foreign as expected. On colonialism, literature, and belonging.
Faith, identity, and political power in the contemporary Caribbean — the subject of Allah in the Islands. Available as reading + discussion.
Complete this form to inquire about availability for speaking engagements, readings, workshops, interviews, or other events. Dr. Flanagan will respond within 5 business days.
Verified press coverage, publications, awards, and events. Every item below has been confirmed against a named primary source. Items marked Verified are confirmed. No invented mentions are included.
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For university lectures, library events, literary festivals, book club appearances, and conference presentations. You may also use the detailed speaking inquiry form above.
Dr. Flanagan welcomes book club and library engagement. She is available for in-person and virtual discussions of her books. For library or classroom bulk orders, contact the relevant publisher directly.
For course adoption inquiries, academic permissions, or Davidson College–related press: Davidson College Faculty Page
Davidson College institutional email: brflanagan@davidson.edu
Publicly listed on Davidson College website.
Dr. Flanagan typically responds to all inquiries within 5 business days. Media inquiries are prioritized.
Last updated: May 2026
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