Sylvia D. Hamilton

Sylvia D. Hamilton is a Nova Scotian filmmaker and writer who is known for her award-winning documentary films as well as her publications, public presentations and extensive volunteer work with artistic, social and cultural organizations on the local and national levels. Her films include Black Mother Black Daughter, Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia and the Portia White: Think On Me, a documentary about Canadian contralto Portia White and The Little Black School House, an exploration of Canada’s segregated schools. Her films have screened in festivals in Canada and abroad, and shown on CBC Television, BRAVO, VISION, TVO and The Knowledge Network. They are in wide use in schools and universities across Canada. She was a contributor to and co-editor of We’re Rooted Here and They Can’t Pull Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women’s History, the first collection of its kind published in Canada. Her poetry and essays have been published in a variety of Canadian publications. Her poetry collection, And I Alone Escaped to Tell You, was published by Gaspereau Press in 2014, and in 2015 was short-listed for the League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the East Coast Literary’s JM Abraham Poetry Award. She has been widely recognized for her work with awards that include a Gemini, The Portia White Prize and the CBC Television Pioneer Award, among others. Ms. Hamilton is recipient of three honourary degrees and held The Nancy’s Chair, a Distinguished Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax. She has served on and chaired many arts related juries and was the National Chair of the Women in Media Foundation. She’s given keynote addresses at conferences, workshops and public events across Canada and in Mexico, Jamaica, New York, San Francisco, Norway and Mauritius among other locations. In addition to making films, she is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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