View source for El Jones

{{Short description|Canadian journalist, professor, activist}}
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{{BLP primary sources|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name        = El Jones
| image       = El Jones Halifax poet.jpg
| caption     = Jones in 2018
| birth_date  =
| birth_place = Wales
| death_date  =
| death_place =
| occupation  = Poet, journalist, columnist, professor
| subject     = Racism, colonialism, prison reform, human rights, social justice
| movement    =
| website     =
| spouse      =
}}
'''El Jones''' is a poet, journalist, professor and activist living in [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]]. She was Halifax's [[Poet Laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia|Poet Laureate]] from 2013 to 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.halifax.ca/culture/PublicArt/PoetLaureate.php|title=HRM Poet Laureate {{!}} Halifax.ca|last=(HRM)|first=Halifax Regional Municipality|website=www.halifax.ca|language=en-ca|access-date=2017-03-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312070344/http://www.halifax.ca/culture/PublicArt/PoetLaureate.php|archive-date=2017-03-12|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Biography==
She was born in [[Wales]] and grew up in [[Winnipeg]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stu-acpa.com/el-jones.html|title=El Jones|website=Atlantic Canadian Poets' Archive|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref>  Her book, ''Live From the Afrikan Resistance!'' published in 2014 by Roseway, an imprint of [[Fernwood Publishing]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/el-jones-poetry-and-power/Content?oid=4416142|title=El Jones, poetry and power|last=Beaumont|first=Hilary|website=The Coast Halifax|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref> is a collection of poems about resisting white [[colonialism]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://quillandquire.com/review/live-from-the-afrikan-resistance/|title=Live from the Afrikan Resistance! {{!}} Quill and Quire|date=2014-11-27|work=Quill and Quire|access-date=2017-11-23}}</ref> In 2015, she was a resident at the [[International Writing Program]] at [[University of Iowa]].<ref>Catharine Tunney, [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/el-jones-halifax-s-poet-laureate-moving-to-iowa-for-work-1.3149317 "El Jones, Halifax's poet laureate, moving to Iowa for work"]. [[CBC News]], July 16, 2015.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/el-jones|title=El JONES {{!}} The International Writing Program|website=iwp.uiowa.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref> Her work focuses on [[social justice]] issues such as [[feminism]], [[Prison abolition movement|prison abolition]], [[anti-racism]], and [[decolonization]];<ref name=":0" /> she wrote in ''[[The Washington Post]]''in June 2020 about "the realities of white-supremacist oppression that black people in Canada have long experienced."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/04/black-canadians-are-suffocating-under-racist-policing-system-too/ |title=Black Canadians are suffocating under a racist policing system, too |date=2020-06-04 |author1=El Jones |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thecoast.ca/RealityBites/archives/2016/03/30/black-power-hour-offers-inmate-education-over-the-airwaves|title=Black Power Hour offers inmate education over the airwaves|last=Boon|first=Jacob|work=The Coast Halifax|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.metronews.ca/news/halifax/2016/10/24/halifax-radio-show-gives-inmates-outlet-on-the-airwaves.html|title=Halifax radio show gives inmates outlet on the airwaves {{!}} Metro Halifax|work=metronews.ca|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en}}</ref> She is a contributor to the [[Halifax Examiner]] and the [[Huffington Post Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/el-jones/|title=El Jones|website=HuffPost Canada|access-date=2017-10-24}}</ref> She has taught at [[Dalhousie University]], [[Acadia University]], [[Nova Scotia Community College]], [[Saint Mary's University (Halifax)|Saint Mary's University]] and [[Mount Saint Vincent University]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://dalgazette.com/arts-culture/el-jones-advocates-system-change-universities/|title=El Jones advocates system change for universities - Dalhousie Gazette|date=2016-10-14|work=Dalhousie Gazette|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en-US}}</ref> In 2017, she was named the 15th Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies at [[Mount Saint Vincent University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.msvu.ca/en/home/programsdepartments/BA/womensstudies/nancyschair/default.aspx|title=Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies|website=www.msvu.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-10-24}}</ref>
In 2021, Jones became a contributor to [[The Breach (media outlet)|The Breach]], an alternative, Canadian news website.<ref>Wright Allen, Samantha. ''The Hill Times'', "The Breach, new media outlet to launch this spring." 2021-04-12</ref>
In March 2022 she was amongst 151 international feminists signing ''Feminist Resistance Against War: A Manifesto'', in solidarity with the [[Feminist Anti-War Resistance]] initiated by Russian feminists after the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Feminist Resistance Against War: A Manifesto | date=17 March 2022 | website=Specter Journal | url=https://spectrejournal.com/feminist-resistance-against-war/ | access-date=31 March 2022 }}</ref>
== Awards and honours ==
* Named a Bold Visionary in 2014 by the A Bold Vision National Leadership Conference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aboldvision.ca/visionary-el-jones/|title=A Bold Vision {{!}} Women's Leadership Conference|website=aboldvision.ca|language=en-CA|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref>
* 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."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1423232-human-rights-award-recipients-honoured|title=Human rights award recipients honoured|date=2016-12-09|website=The Chronicle Herald|language=en|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref>
* Two-time National Spoken Word Champion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://alllitup.ca/Blog/2015/Poetry-in-Motion-The-Spoken-Word-as-a-Tool-of-Liberation-El-Jones|title=Poetry in Motion: The Spoken Word as a Tool of Liberation – El Jones|last=Up|first=All Lit|website=alllitup.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref>
* 2017/18  Poet in Residence for [[Poetry in Voice]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryinvoice.com/poems/poets/el-jones|title=El Jones {{!}} Poetry In Voice|website=www.poetryinvoice.com|language=en|access-date=2017-10-24}}</ref>
== References ==
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian activists]]
[[Category:Black Canadian women writers]]
[[Category:Canadian women poets]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian poets]]
[[Category:Black Canadian writers]]
[[Category:Canadian women activists]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian women writers]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Poets Laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia]]