Jennifer Dance is a Canadian author and playwright known for her passionate exploration of justice, equality, and environmental issues, particularly concerning Indigenous communities. Her debut novel, "Red Wolf," received critical acclaim, including praise from Giller Prize-winning author Joseph Boyden, who described it as a powerful work emerging "howling out of the wilderness." The novel earned accolades such as the Silver Moonbeam Medal and nominations for the Silver Birch Award and the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award. Dance’s writing often parallels the struggles of humans and endangered animals, as seen in her White Feather Collection, which addresses historical and contemporary injustices faced by Indigenous peoples and wildlife.
Born in England in 1949, Dance spent her formative years in Trinidad before graduating from the University of the West Indies with a degree in agriculture. After facing racial violence in England, she immigrated to Canada in 1979, seeking a better future for her mixed-race family. Her lived experiences deeply inform her writing, blending her advocacy for racial equality with her love of nature and animals. Dance’s follow-up novel, "Paint," continues this thematic focus, telling the story of a mustang and a Lakota boy against the backdrop of environmental destruction on North America’s Great Plains. Residing on a small farm in Stouffville, Ontario, she draws inspiration from her rural lifestyle and lifelong connection to horses.