About

Renée Harper (she/they) is a writer, artist and college professor based in Nelson, B.C., Canada. Renée studied mixed media arts and creative writing at Kootenay School of the Arts before earning an Honours BA in English from the University of Toronto and an MA and PhD in Canadian literature from York University.

Renée's creative work has found its place in several literary magazines, such as Event Magazine, The Literary Review of Canada, and Prism International. Her poetry was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, shortlisted for the Prism International Poetry Contest, and received Contemporary Verse 2’s Lina Chartrand Poetry Prize for emerging poets. Her first full-length poetry collection, Boundary Territory, was released by Now or Never Publishing in the Fall of 2024.

Living on Sinixt territory in Nelson, B.C., Renée is a writer and college professor with a background in literary theory, settler colonial Canadian literature, and the environmental humanities. Her dissertation titled Enclosed Edens, Contested Waters, and Failed Utopias: An Ecocritical Reading of Epistemic Land Claims in Okanagan Literature (2023) unpacks the settler colonial finding and making of home on unceded Indigenous territory.

Renée is also an artist who finds inspiration in Kootenay landscapes. Renée’s artwork can be found in various galleries around the West Kootenays. You can see more of her work by visiting reneeharperart.com