Member Profile

I am a writer, theatre artist, and arts educator whose work over the past 40 years has evolved at the intersection of arts and activism. Currently I am offering a series of intergenerational virtual workshops that use writing and eco-poetry as a way in to what eco-Buddhist philosopher and writer, Joanna Macy refers to as Active Hope. Based on "Daring to Hope at the Cliff's Edge: Pangea's Dream Remembered", over the last year, these programs have been offered through Ships Company Theater (Parrsboro, N.S.); The Rose Theater (Brampton, ON); Peace One Day Guelph; and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Visit this link to get a taste of the work, a virtual reading and interview hosted by the amazing Ian Keteku: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t_1MMoUdII

"Daring to Hope at the Cliff's Edge: Pangea's Dream Remembered" (Chapel Street Editions, 2019) evolved from my one year residency at the Joggins Fossil Institute, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the mighty Bay of Fundy.

“Lyrical, bewildering, heartening, and unsettling, this work sees an individual voice reckoning with the overwhelming complexity of our present moment.”

~ Nick Storring, Musician and music journalist

“Elizabeth is a passionate, compelling presence, and the urgency and clarity of her writing is given even greater power in a live setting.”

~ Sean O’Neill, Executive producer and host, CBC In the Making

"...timeless and timely, ancestral and modern, serious and whimsical. Be prepared for a journey of the moral imagination, an invitation into a council of all beings, and a unique experience that will leave you inspired, moved, and daring to hope."

~Della Duncan, Ecological Economist Work that Reconnects Facilitator

"Joggins Fossil Cliffs on the Bay of Fundy is the important geological focus for this engaging poetic meditation on our endangered earth. In Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland’s lyrical treatment myth, Indigenous lore, geological science, song, storytelling, current events, and even pop culture intermingle in an impassioned search for understanding and for hope"

~Glen Sorestad, First Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan

"As a cultural geographer specializing in the field of Education for Sustainable Development, I have witnessed the pivotal role the arts play in providing a holistic framework through which we can process our collective fears of the future. In this powerful narrative poem, Elizabeth takes us to the cliff ’s edge of these fears, and using pathos, humour and her unique wit, provides us with a personal model for resilient action."

~Dr. Michael Fox Professor of Geography & Environment Mount Allison University

My novella, JAZZ, a coming-of-age story of a young transgendered East Indian male, won the 2014 Ken Klonksy Novella Prize and was shortlisted for the 2015 ReLit Award.

My short stories, poems and personal essays have been published in Resilience Magazine, Deep Times Journal, Forge Journal, The Furious Gazelle, Circa - A Journal of Historical Fiction and What Rough Beast, to name a few. An excerpt from my novel, "Traeh Gnul - Miranda's Journey from the Great Forest" won the 2014 Writers Federation of New Brunswick Young Adult Fiction Award. In 2017, with the support of Mount Allison University, I wrote, directed and produced the spoken-word play, "Bearing Witness".

One of my great joys comes from facilitating creative process and tying it in to social justice/environmental issues. In 2016, I presented creative writing workshops at the Knowlton Literary Festival (Knowlton, QC) and at the San Miguel Writers Conference (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico). In 2017, I facilitated the Earth Warriors Theatre Project, working collaboratively with a group of middle school students to write and mount a play called "Don't sit this one out" (title based on a quote by Carl Sagan). I am a certified Work that Reconnects facilitator. I currently live in a little house near the mighty Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia with my composer husband, Beverly Glenn-Copeland. In my spare time, I love to garden, read, walk in the woods and drink earl grey tea, not necessarily in that order.