El Jones
El Jones is a poet, professor and activist living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was born in Wales and grew up in Winnipeg.[1] She was Halifax's Poet Laureate from 2013–2015.[2] Her book, Live From the Afrikan Resistance! published in 2014 by Roseway, an imprint of Fernwood Publishing,[3] is a collection of poems about resisting white colonialism.[4] In 2015, she was a resident at the International Writing Program at University of Iowa.[5][6] Her work focuses on social justice issues such as feminism, prison abolition, anti-racism, and decolonization.[7]
Since 2016, she has co-hosted a radio show called Black Power Hour on CKDU-FM, an educational program which provides information on Black history and culture aimed at incarcerated people.[8] 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.[9] She is a contributor to the Halifax Examiner and the Huffington Post Canada.[10] She has taught at Dalhousie University, Acadia University, Nova Scotia Community College, Saint Mary's University and Mount Saint Vincent University.[11] In 2017, she was named the 15th Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University.[12]
Awards & Honours
- Named a Bold Visionary in 2014 by the A Bold Vision National Leadership Conference.[13]
- 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."[14]
- Two-time National Spoken Word Champion.[15]
- 2017/18 Poet in Residence for Poetry in Voice.[16]
References
- "El Jones". Atlantic Canadian Poets' Archive. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- (HRM), Halifax Regional Municipality. "HRM Poet Laureate | Halifax.ca". www.halifax.ca. Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- Beaumont, Hilary. "El Jones, poetry and power". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- "Live from the Afrikan Resistance! | Quill and Quire". Quill and Quire. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
- Catharine Tunney, "El Jones, Halifax's poet laureate, moving to Iowa for work". CBC News, July 16, 2015.
- "El JONES | The International Writing Program". iwp.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- Beaumont, Hilary. "El Jones, poetry and power". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- Boon, Jacob. "Black Power Hour offers inmate education over the airwaves". The Coast Halifax. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- "Halifax radio show gives inmates outlet on the airwaves | Metro Halifax". metronews.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- "El Jones". HuffPost Canada. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
- "El Jones advocates system change for universities - Dalhousie Gazette". Dalhousie Gazette. 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- "Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies". www.msvu.ca. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
- "A Bold Vision | Women's Leadership Conference". aboldvision.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- "Human rights award recipients honoured". The Chronicle Herald. 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- Up, All Lit. "Poetry in Motion: The Spoken Word as a Tool of Liberation – El Jones". alllitup.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- "El Jones | Poetry In Voice". www.poetryinvoice.com. Retrieved 2017-10-24.