[URBAN NOTE] "El Jones, Halifax's poet laureate, moving to Iowa for work"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC's Catharine Tunney reported on the sadly ironic emigration of Haligonian poet laureate El Jones to the United States in search for work. Greater Halifax, I would note, is probably the most prosperous region of the Maritimes: Things are not better in Sydney.

Halifax's poet laureate says she is leaving the province at the end of August for a job in the U.S. because she can't find a permanent teaching job in Nova Scotia.

"I need to eat. I need sleep," said El Jones in an interview with CBC News.

"I'm going to be homeless for the month."

[. . .]

The writer and activist has had jobs at Acadia University and the Nova Scotia Community College. She said it's hard to work in Nova Scotia. Between her teaching, activism and poet laureate duties Jones says she had been working 16 to 20 hours a day, sometimes for free.

According to the Halifax Regional Municipality, the poet laureate is a poet or writer who lives in the city and "has achieved excellence amongst their peers and whose work is of relevance to the citizens of HRM."

The person in the position receives a small stipend of $4,000 for the two-year term and acts as "an advocate for literary arts and reflects the life of HRM through their work. As an advocate for poetry, language and the arts, the poet laureate attends events across the Municipality to promote and attract people to the literary world."