El Jones is a poet, journalist, professor and activist living in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. She was Halifax's

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

from 2013 to 2015.

Biography

She was born in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and grew up in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. Her book, ''Live From the Afrikan Resistance!'' published in 2014 by Roseway, an imprint of

Fernwood Publishing Fernwood Publishing is an independent Canadian publisher that publishes non-fiction books dealing with social justice and issues of social, political and economic importance. Fernwood was founded in 1991 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, publishing its fi ...

, is a collection of poems about resisting white

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

. In 2015, she was a resident at the

International Writing Program The International Writing Program (IWP) is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since 2014, the program offers online courses to many writers and poets around the world. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted o ...

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. Her work focuses on

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

issues such as

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

prison abolition The prison abolition movement is a network of groups and activists that seek to reduce or eliminate prisons and the prison system, and replace them with systems of rehabilitation that do not place a focus on punishment and government institutiona ...

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate a ...

, and

decolonization Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

; she wrote in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''in June 2020 about "the realities of white-supremacist oppression that black people in Canada have long experienced." Since 2016, she has co-hosted a radio show called Black Power Hour on

CKDU-FM CKDU-FM (88.1 MHz) is a non-profit radio station broadcasting from the campus of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It airs a campus radio format serving the Halifax Regional Municipality area and is operated by the not-for-profit ...

, an educational program which provides information on Black history and culture aimed at incarcerated people. Listeners from prisons call in to rap and read poetry that they have written, providing a voice to people who rarely get a wide audience. She is a contributor to the

Halifax Examiner The ''Halifax Examiner'' is an online newspaper based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was founded in 2014 by Tim Bousquet, former news editor of ''The Coast (newspaper), The Coast'' Alternative newspaper, alternative weekly paper. Bousquet, known for ...

and the

Huffington Post Canada ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

. She has taught at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

Nova Scotia Community College Nova Scotia Community College, commonly referred to as NSCC, is a community college serving the province of Nova Scotia through a network of 14 campuses and three community learning centres. The college delivers over 130 programs in five academ ...

, Saint Mary's University and

Mount Saint Vincent University Mount Saint Vincent University, often referred to as the Mount, is a public, primarily undergraduate, university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was established in 1873. Mount Saint Vincent offers undergraduate programs in Arts, S ...

. In 2017, she was named the 15th Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies at

. In 2021, Jones became a contributor to The Breach, an alternative, Canadian news website. In March 2022 she was amongst 151 international feminists signing ''Feminist Resistance Against War: A Manifesto'', in solidarity with the

Feminist Anti-War Resistance Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR or FAWR, russian: Феминистское антивоенное сопротивление (ФАС), Feministskoye antivoyennoye soprotivleniye (FAS)) is a group of Russian feminists founded in February 2022 to ...

initiated by Russian feminists after the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Awards and honours

* Named a Bold Visionary in 2014 by the A Bold Vision National Leadership Conference. * Recipient of the Dr. Allan Burnley (Rocky) Jones Individual Award at the Nova Scotia Human Rights Award (2016) for her "commitment to advancing human rights, equity and inclusion." * Two-time National Spoken Word Champion. * 2017/18 Poet in Residence for

Poetry in Voice Poetry (derived from the Greek language, Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, El Living people Canadian activists Black Canadian women writers Canadian women poets 21st-century Canadian poets Black Canadian writers Canadian women activists 21st-century Canadian women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Poets Laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia