Monica Kidd tells stories mainly in the form of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction, but also in images.
‘I am interested in boundary work, ambiguous places. These vary from situations like erosion, trauma, rebuilding, and hope, to people and their contexts. I try to begin all my stories — especially the tough ones — in a place of compassion.’

‘My art quiets people down..’.

Monica Kidd is principally concerned with the environment, health and human rights.
Narratively she is driven first by imagery, metaphor and place, then by argument. Monica favours the subtle, the repeating, looping and constructivist, over the exclamatory, linear and essentialist.

“I work in craft as a letterpress printer, which reflects my attraction to durable, historic methods and materials that can be adapted to modern conversations. As a maker of documentary images and small, quiet films that invite introspection. I value things made by hand. My art quiets people down, urges contemplation. “

Wide range of influences

Monica Kidd’s varied background as an award-winning journalist and multi-disciplinary author, physician, and former ecologist contributes the range of her creative work. That hybrid existence is reflected in her wide range of influences.

“I return again and again to writers of humanity’s place in the natural world such as Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, John Steinbeck, Terry Tempest Williams; to writers who seamlessly blend poetry and prose such as Anne Michaels and Michael Ondaatje. I’m influenced by artists who see the mark of the maker in the work such as letterpress printer Andrew Steeves.”

‘I create to celebrate the world, to wake people up, to connect.’

Visually, Monica Kidd is inspired by female photojournalists and storytellers of intimate lives, as well as male directors of absurdist, epic and brutal stories such as Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers.

Creative writing

Monica Kidd has published eight books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, most recently the novel The Crane (Breakwater, 2025). Her creative writing has been published in dozens of literary magazines and has earned her the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and National Magazine Awards. Though she worked for many years as a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, her more recent freelance work has appeared in The Walrus, Canadian Geographic and Alberta Views. 

Coastal erosion project

Monica is at work on a creative nonfiction book about coastal erosion globally and has been creating documentary images of the people and places she has visited.

“Because of the global nature of this work, I would greatly value opportunities to make more creative connections outside Canada.”