Erik(a) Jonah
Erik(a) Jonah has work published or forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Ecotone, Foglifter, the Hopkins Review, and elsewhere.
Their chapbook, School for Runaways, is forthcoming in October 2026 from Black Lawrence Press. It was also named a finalist by Two Sylvias press and Frontier Poetry.
Their debut collection, Questions for Crickets, is still available for publication.
A nonbinary writer and teacher, you might see them listed as Erik or Erika, and their legal last name is Johnson. But there are too many Erik Johnsons out there, and they would rather be swallowed by a whale. Hence Erik Jonah.
A 2016 MFA scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, they were a finalist for the 2018 Francine Ringold Award for New Writers, were nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the journal Cave Wall, and were awarded a residency at The Mineral School in Washington in 2022. BA in Theatre Studies from Yale University; MFA from the University of Oregon.
Erik has taught kids in foster care in Connecticut, queer youth in the Bronx, dancers in Ohio, poets in Oregon, and more. After spending four years running a school for runaway and homeless youth, Erik is currently bouncing around, helping marginalized youth in one way or another in various schools around Eugene, Oregon.
Erika has two kids and is married to a beautiful tomboy. They like to wander in the woods and write in the shed.
Contact them at erikalbertjonah at G mail dot com
Erik Jonah 