Erica Violet Lee

Biography

Erica Violet Lee is a nehiyaw writer, scholar, and community organizer. With an educational background in political and feminist theory, Lee’s work centers on decolonization and social activism with an emphasis on uplifting Indigenous women. Her political writing has appeared in The Guardian, the Globe and Mail, and CBC Indigenous while her poetry has appeared in Brick, Contemporary Verse 2, and Held Magazine. Her debut poetry collection, On The Prairies We Will Live Forever, was released in 2024 with Penguin Random House Canada. Lee lives in Treaty Six Territory (Saskatoon).

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?

Offhand, I loved (and still love) Langston Hughes, EE cummings, Maya Angelou, and Walt Whitman.

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

I've written poetry since I was able to write anything at all. 

What do you think a poet’s “job” is?

To be a documenter of and participant in our times. To imagine better lives for our people.

Publications

Title
Freedom's Flight (for Mito)
Publisher
Held Magazine
Publication type
Periodical/Magazine
Title
On The Prairies We Will Live Forever
Publisher
Penguin Random House
Date
2024
Publication type
Book
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