News Release

El Jones named HRM's new Poet Laureate

Thursday, June 27, 2013 (Halifax, NS) – Today Mayor Mike Savage officially welcomed El Jones as HRM’s new Poet Laureate.

“The Poet Laureate Program makes a valuable contribution to poetry, language, and the arts by providing opportunities for our residents, especially our youth, to make personal connections to the literary community”, said Mayor Savage.

El Jones is a spoken word activist and teacher who has performed all over Canada, including at the 10th anniversary all-star edition of When Sisters Speak in Toronto. In 2012, she was sponsored by Citizenship and Heritage Canada on a reading tour of Nova Scotia with George Elliott Clarke. Her poetry is particularly committed to political causes and social justice and El has worked extensively with organizations around Halifax performing and presenting on issues of social change.

“My goals as Poet Laureate include working with communities and organizations in this city to make poetry more widely available and to engage businesses, government, artists, youth, and citizens from all backgrounds in creating a shared narrative of this city through art,” said El Jones. “The Poet Laureate puts a spotlight on the role that art and poetry play in our city by engaging communities and finding fearless and confident voices to speak out, and I am proud to represent part of that vision.”

El is currently the artistic director of Word Iz Bond Spoken Word Artist Collective and can be seen performing on the third Thursday of every month at the Company House at 2202 Gottingen Street in Word Iz Bond’s SPEAK! Series. She currently teaches in the African Canadian Transition Program at NSCC and in the Women's Studies program at Acadia.

HRM has been a strong supporter of the Poet Laureate Program since 2001 when Sue MacLeod stepped into the role of HRM’s first Poet Laureate. Since then the program has continued with Lorri Neilsen Glenn 2005-2009, Shauntay Grant 2009-2010, and Tanya Davis 2011-2012. El Jones will serve as HRM’s Poet Laureate for two years 2013-2015.

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Media contacts:

Shaune MacKinlay
Mayor’s Office
490-6531

Colleen Connolly
HRM Events & Film
490-4944