Photo credit: Julian Stamboulieh
Biography
Dani Jansen is an English and drama teacher who lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. Her debut novel, The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life, came out in Fall 2020 and won two Goldie Awards. It was also a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Janet Savage Blachford Prize.
Dani spent her teen years in rural Nova Scotia and attended the University of King’s College in Halifax. Her family still lives in Nova Scotia, where she makes a pilgrimage every year to swim in the Atlantic Ocean.
Her writing has appeared in This Magazine, Lunch Ticket, The A3 Review, and Fiction Southeast. She has also contributed to Maman Loup’s Den. Her debut novel, The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life, came out September 22, 2020. Her second novel, The Dog Heist, releases on September 1, 2026.
A guide to pronouncing “Dani.”
If you think Dani should be pronounced “Danny,” you’re not the only one! A lifetime of correcting teachers and now my own students has confirmed that this would indeed be the most logical pronunciation. But fear not! There are some easy tricks to learning how to say it correctly.
In high school, a friend’s older brother pointed out that my name sounded like “Da knee,” and proceeded to call me “Da elbow” as an “affectionate” nickname.
2. Living and working in Quebec, it is often easiest to explain that my name is pronounced like the French name “Denis.” This is definitely NOT the same as “Dennis” in English, so only use this tip if you are familiar with the French language.