Lesley-Ann Brown is the author of Decolonial Daughter: Letters from a Black Woman to her European Son (Repeater, 2017) as well as Blackgirl on Mars (Repeater, 2023).

Realizing that the tradition of Western thought and theory can not save her, she moved four years ago to the Danish island of Møn to continue her journey of unlearning and befriending her shadows, plants and other non-human creatures.

This move is also an act of turning European settlerism on its head, as well as her own, personal marronage.

A wayward student, she is grateful that her teacher – The Great Mother – is patient, nonjudgemental, and compassionate.

With an emphasis on changing timelines (Kali) as well as observing the subtle lessons of water (Oshun), she has been praying with her feet (as the African proverb goes) and as well as fixing them (her feet) and in the process learning why the words “soul” and “sole” are homophones.

Since being in attendance at her dying grandmother Hildred Balbirsingh’s side, she considers herself also a student and practitioner of being a death doula – most recently to a severely wounded ruk on the roadside.

Aware of the Taoist teaching that naming is the beginning of all particular things, she finds herself ducking in and out of various identities – interrogating the question, “What does it mean to be human?”

For the past four years, her body has been her guide – experiencing the intimate relationship between tightness in the body, stress, trauma, safety, and mindful attention.

At the moment mullein is one of her favorite teachers.

She has given up everything to gain her authentic Self and is thankful for her community of compassionate companions, and has in the process, gained the world.

Brown currently lives with her trusted companion, Popcorn the Cat and will soon be embarking on new adventures with her beloved.

She also dissolves neoliberal expectations and structures and is the founder of Bandit Queen Press – a place for counter-storytelling.