writers

Jessica Outram

Jessica Outram is Cobourg’s 4th Poet Laureate. She is a Métis writer and educator with roots in the Georgian Bay Métis Community. Since 2019, her mandate has been to honour and nurture Cobourg’s culturally dynamic community. Jessica not only encourages the reading and writing of poetry, she also aims to enrich our shared human experience with heartfelt contributions.

She is on the steering committee for the Northumberland Festival of the Arts, works with the SONG and SONGtech programs, sings in the Safe Harbour choir, and has been an active volunteer with Northumberland Players. Jessica has lived in Cobourg for over 10 years, working in Northumberland as Vice Principal at East Northumberland Secondary School in Brighton, as Principal of Colborne Public School and then Dr. GJ MacGillivray Public School in Courtice. In August, she began a new position: Principal of Indigenous Education, supporting all schools K-12 in Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board.

As the owner of Creativity Coaching Canada she works with artists and writers to nurture their life’s work. Jessica has studied watercolour, acrylic, mixed media, and photography. She regularly offers creativity workshops that focus on attention and ways of noticing using the arts from a variety of forms, time periods, and locations. Jessica is co-host of Hummingbird, a podcast exploring creativity for writers and artists.

To learn more visit: www.sunshineinajar.com. In June 2019, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Cobourg.