Erica Violet
Lee
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, is forthcoming in 2024 with Penguin Random House Canada. Lee lives in Treaty Six Territory (Saskatoon).
Program History
Citation
“Erica Violet Lee is a nêhiyaw truth-teller and prophet from the inner city of misâskwatôminihk, also known as Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In both her poetry and prose, her voice rings with authority, naming, shaming, and demanding an end to the everyday brutality of colonial oppression. And yet, even in this darkness, see how her words shine, opening a space for tenderness and asserting a right to youth, love, abundance, and joy. Without forgetting or minimizing trauma, Lee dares to invoke a future “dripping sacred” in which Indigenous people on the prairies are free to flourish.”