“There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art.”
—Toni Morrison, “No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear”
Chandler Grant is a writer and spoken word artist deeply rooted in history— the kind we study and the kind we inherit. Her work is shaped by a personal lineage that carries stories of resilience, contradiction, and survival.
On one side of her family, she descends from an enslaved Nigerian woman and her enslaver, a White politician and military officer. Generations later, this same line is joined by a union between a Black woman and a Blackfoot Indigenous man, a relationship that defied his family’s expectations.
On another side, she is the great-granddaughter of a mixed-race Black woman who abruptly placed her five children into foster care, including her maternal grandmother, who spent her entire childhood moving through that system.
These histories are not distant to her—they live in the structures, patterns, and emotional landscapes of her family today. As a daughter of these stories, Chandler is committed to exploring how they shape her understanding of identity, connection, and sanity.
Through her work, she seeks to reimagine these inherited narratives, giving voice to what was silenced and creating space for reflection, healing, and, possibly, redemption.
Chandler is currently in her senior year at Agnes Scott College, where she is studying Psychology and English. She will produce an original piece of work for the student Commencement Speech at her graduation.
She is working on her first collection of creative nonfiction.
