El Jones is a spoken-word artist and teacher from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her poems are themed around social-political issues surrounding race and gender. El has graced local and national stages and events as Halifax’s fifth poet laureate; two-time National Spoken Word Champion, an activist, and a college and university instructor. She feels a constant and urgent need to continue action on behalf of marginalized people against oppression, racism, gender and sexual discrimination and colonization. She leads by example, as she believes that big actions will not gain respect but rather hard work and the smaller tasks will make a difference.

Finding her political heart in the African Nova Scotian community, El Jones continuously makes her voice and purpose heard. She believes that poetry can empower the powerless and give voice to the voiceless. El’s spoken word performances speak truth to power and Prismatic is honoured to bring El Jones and her work to the stage.

In addition to spoken word performances throughout the festival, El will lead Session 5 of The TALK: Speaking up and Speaking Out which will explore the challenges of bridging the gap between mainstream and minority communities through one’s professional work.