Tanya Davis is a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her style is marked primarily by

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

poetry set to music.

Background

Born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, she moved to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

for a time after high school to attend university, and then hitchhiked to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, where she worked in community development"Tanya Davis' ''Gorgeous'' talk"
'' The Coast'', June 19, 2008. before moving to Halifax in 2005."The Evolution of Tanya Davis"
'' The Coast'', November 16, 2006.

Career

Shortly after moving to Halifax, Davis began performing spoken word poetry at various cafés in the city. She soon recorded an album, ''Make a List'', which was nominated for Female Recording of the Year, Alternative Recording of the Year and Album of the Year at the Nova Scotia Music Awards, along with a nomination for Davis herself as New Artist of the Year, as well as four nominations for the MusicPEI Awards. She was named poet of the year in '' The Coasts annual year-end reader's poll for 2007. She followed up with ''Gorgeous Morning'' in 2008. She has toured across Canada and internationally as a poet and musician, both as a solo artist and with

Jenn Grant Jenn Grant (born August 20, 1980) is a Canadian folk pop singer-songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Career ''Jenn Grant and Goodbye Twentieth Century'' She performed as a musician for a time in her early teens, but stopped due to a bo ...

. Davis attracted international press attention in 2010 when a performance video of her poem "How to Be Alone", directed by

Andrea Dorfman Andrea Dorfman (born October 29, 1968) is a Canadian screenwriter and film director based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She directed the Emmy Award films ''Flawed (film), Flawed'' (2010) and ''Big Mouth'' (2012).Dorfman, Andrea. "Andreadorfman.com , ...

, became popular on YouTube. She subsequently released her third album, ''Clocks and Hearts Keep Going'', in November 2010."Tanya Davis keeps going"
''The Coast'', November 18, 2010. The album was produced by

Jim Bryson Jim Bryson is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Briefly a founding member of the band Punchbuggy, he moved to a musical life under his own name with the release of his debut album, ''The Occasionals'', in 2000. A member of singer-songwriter Kath ...

. Davis authored a book of poetry titled ''At First, Lonely'' in spring 2011, published by Canadian publisher The Acorn Press. She also served as

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

of the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

from 2011 to 2013. In 2013, she wrote the poetic narration to Millefiore Clarkes' ''Island Green'', a short documentary produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

about organic farming in

PEI PEI or Pei may refer to: Places *Matecaña International Airport, Pereira, Colombia, IATA code PEI *Pei County (沛县), Jiangsu, China *Pei Commandery (沛郡), a commandery in Chinese history *Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada * Pei, ...

. In 2014, she appeared in her first acting role, starring in Andrea Dorfman's film '' Heartbeat''. In 2020 Dorfman and Davis again collaborated on the short film '' How to Be At Home'', based on another poem by Davis about coping with isolation during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. The film was named to the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

's year-end

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema" ...

list for 2020.Victoria Ahearn
"Toronto International Film Festival releases Top Ten lists for 2020"
. ''

Squamish Chief The Stawamus Chief, officially Stawamus Chief Mountain (often referred to as simply The Chief, or less commonly Squamish Chief), is a granitic dome located adjacent to the town of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. It towers over above the w ...

'', December 9, 2020.

Personal life

Davis has stated in the press that she identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

Discography

* ''Make a List'' (2006) * ''Gorgeous Morning'' (2008) * ''Clocks and Hearts Keep Going'' (2010)

References

External links

Tanya Davis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Tanya 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian actresses Actresses from Halifax, Nova Scotia Actresses from Prince Edward Island Bisexual actresses Bisexual singers Bisexual songwriters Bisexual poets Canadian folk singer-songwriters Canadian film actresses Canadian women poets Canadian spoken word poets Canadian feminists Feminist musicians Canadian LGBT singers Canadian LGBT songwriters Canadian LGBT poets Living people Musicians from Prince Edward Island Musicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia People from Summerside, Prince Edward Island Queer women Queer actresses Queer singers Queer songwriters Queer poets Writers from Prince Edward Island 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women pop singers Year of birth missing (living people) Poets Laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia 21st-century LGBT people