Christopher Grant’s Biography
Dancing Elephants Press 2023 Poetry Collection
Christopher Grant has forever been an outsider, lacking the roots essential for cultural identity and ethnic allegiance. He is a mutt, the child of a Canadian farmer whose allergies to barley coaxed him into teaching, and an Australian who found she was a better spy than a nurse. He was gifted a privileged childhood in post-colonial Africa, where his father’s job made the family welcome in diplomatic circles.
He has seen much of Africa and Europe, as well as parts of Asia — over 50 countries at last count, some of which no longer exist. Christopher saw life as an adventure, unaware of how unique his childhood was. Witnessing how different cultures performed common tasks developed his skills as an observer and taught him there was no ‘right way’ to see the world.
Christopher wished to be a writer before he could ride a bicycle. He could read at the age of four and had unrestricted access to his mother’s library of thrillers and spy novels by the time he was seven.
As he matured, collecting stories and recounting them, Christopher saw their power to hold an audience and sought to improve them. Each time he recalled an encounter with a bull elephant in the darkness of an African night, he added detail and nuance. He toyed with sentence rhythms and word choices to best capture his mother’s expression when he handed her a deadly snake from the garden.
Storytelling became more than a passion. His stories defined his place in the world, and though they drove him to earn a degree in English, they would never provide his keep — the small prairie metropolis he calls home is closer to the Arctic Circle than to Toronto, centre of Canada’s publishing industry.
He entered the film industry as a producer, but eventually realized he wanted to write, not produce.
Christopher has written nearly a dozen feature film scripts and has conceived two television dramas. One, a modern version of ‘Robin Hood’ about a guilt-ridden veteran who finds redemption by protecting the homeless and vulnerable, is in development for a national broadcaster.
A second concept, ‘Young Daemons,’ is currently being adapted into a trilogy of novels. The story follows five imps evacuated to Earth for their safety, but who inadvertently banish their mentor. They must rely on a human orphan to help them find their way as they refine their Talents. Think ‘Breakfast Club’ meets ‘Constantine.’
Other than ‘Young Daemons,’ Christopher is plotting a pair of novels about an AI, crafting one screenplay about a monster on an honourable quest and another about a conspiracy to fast-track the Rapture. Behind these is a caper titled, ‘Getaway Driving School,’ and an absurd comedy about a vampire.
Christopher has more stories than years remaining in which to write them, and he hopes to pass with pen in hand.
