Jennifer Houle

​"I would say there is always some sort of theoretical concern behind my work. Very, very rarely do I write a piece only for its aesthetic or aural quality. It’s fun to get lost in wordplay, but unless I’m working something out, then it probably won’t hold my attention very long. I seem to always circle back to material that concerns identity and meaning-making in a convoluted, pre-existing culture fraught with contradictions and cruelties, even when all seems light. I would say I am also interested in ecopoetics and my work often includes careful considerations of the landscapes I inhabit. I think about the human relationship to the natural world a lot – about what can move a person to act, to risk, to change – or not change."
 

- from Rob McLennan's 12 or 20 (second series) questions with Jennifer Houle (2019 - and I still stand by this in 2026)