Member Review
Canadian writers take so much for granted. Canada Council programs. Festivals and readings. Cheques arriving from the Public Lending Right Commission and Access Copyright. The Writers’ Trust of Canada Awards. Apparently, some of us believe that these things sprang unbidden from a naturally generous culture, and will always be with us. But they exist thanks mainly to the sustained creative efforts and constant vigilance of The Writers’ Union of Canada. We owe. We owe those who have gone before us, and we owe those who will come after.
Member Profile
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Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland
I am a writer, theatre artist, and arts educator whose work evolves at the intersection of arts and activism. My novella, JAZZ, 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 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". From my 2018 residency at Joggins Fossil Institute (N.S.) came a narrative eco-poem "Daring to Hope at the Cliff's Edge". The book is now available through Chapel Street Editions.
“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
Daring to Hope at the Cliff ’s Edge is ...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
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 Sackville, N.B. with my composer husband, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and two cats. In my spare time, I love to garden, read, walk in the woods and drink earl grey tea, not necessarily in that order.
