Aleria McKay

1999

Photo credit

Eden Graham

Biography

Aleria McKay is an Onondaga Eel clan & Teme Augama Anishnabai kwe writer, mother, and educator from Six Nations of the Grand River. Aleria holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Indigenous Studies and a Bachelor of Education. She is currently working towards a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Her most recent writing projects include ‘Sweetgrass & Cigarettes’ and ‘Homecoming’. in her free time, Aleria enjoys reading, gardening, sewing, escape rooms, bird-watching, hiking, and camping.

Micro-interview

Did you read poetry when you were in high school? Is there a particular poem that you loved when you were a teenager?

Reading poetry in high school was the whole reason I got into writing to begin with! I started watching spoken word poetry performances online after a teacher assigned a slam poetry project. I quickly fell in love with performance poetry, and began writing my own pieces. Reading and listening to poetry over the next few years shaped my own voice and introduced me to artists and writers who continue to deeply inspire me to this day. There's too many of my favourites to list, but two of writers the that I really looked up to as a teen were Shane Koyczan and Sarah Kay.

When did you first start writing poetry? And then when did you start thinking of yourself as a poet?

I wrote my first poem at age 11, and continued writing occasionally over the next few years. In high school, after being introduced to spoken word poetry, I began taking my writing more seriously. I always had a goal of being a poet, but it wasn't until I was 19 when I self-published my first poetry collection, when I started being more comfortable calling myself a poet.