We recently connected with Erika Renee Land and have shared our conversation below.
Erika Renee, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
In 2020, I was chosen to perform during the 2020 United Solo Festival . The plan was to tour my one-woman play ‘PTSD and ME’ across the US before the NY performance so I could break myself and the play in. But COVID-19 happened, and the show was cancelled. But even before the cancellation news, things were already set to derail. I had to cancel my rehearsals with my acting coach and travel back to GA to take custody of my months old nephew that June. Life from then on started taking place and all the work I’d done to prep for NY was flying out of the door.
In 2021 the opportunity came back around, and I took the show to NY. While in NY things were not ideal and two days before the show was set to debut, a storm was coming and we had to evacuate our Bronx basement Airbnb and move into a small hotel room in times square, with all the luggage we’d brought to town that included the baby’s playpen and stroller. We were cramped because parking was inconvenient in Manhattan, and we didn’t want to leave much in the truck. The day of the show the baby was throwing a fit and so my wife Corrissa missed the entire show, because she had to sit in the lobby with him. I was distraught, she missed the show we planned for years together. The next day we bolted out of NY back to GA.
Things behind the scenes were a fiasco in NY, even though the performance went on without a hitch, and I was sad well past thanksgiving and into Christmas. And so when I received a black and gold trophy that said United Solo Best Emerging Artist, Erika Renee Land, PTSD and Me for Christmas, I cried in a way that I haven’t in a long time. I won Best Emerging Artist from the show, but I was so sad that I didn’t make the trip back to NY to accept and celebrate my accomplishment. Often, I feel like my work and the impact I’m trying to make doesn’t matter. And my friend Steffinie Blankenship took the time to let me know that my work does matter and that I matter. For that I thank and celebrate her. That Christmas gift from her lifted my spirits and is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Overall, I am an artistic motivational speaker. It started with me writing poetry as a way to cope with PTSD. As a War Poet, I channel my experiences of being deployed to Iraqi into dynamic poetry that takes the reader on a journey both emotionally and physically.
I also have three albums: A Trip to Walmart (thoughts), L Squared (music), and PTSD and ME (poetry).
The album PTSD and ME is the soundtrack to my theatre play PTSD and ME: A Journey Told Through Poetry. The play is a snapshot of my experiences and subsequent struggles with Post-traumatic stress disorder, and the journey I have taken to heal.
I’ve also published five books.
‘Residual Affects’, with fellow veteran KaTisha Smittick that juxtaposes our war experiences by meshing poetry and photography.
‘Georgia’s DAM’ embodies my personal struggles with Post-traumatic stress disorder, that takes you to the very spots where I created most of my poetry.
My fiction series, ‘It’s Complicated’, highlights the struggles of LGBT interpersonal relationships.
The book ‘of an Artist’ highlights various mental and emotional states that artists tend to deal with on their creative journeys.
As a performance poet I incorporate my poet into various performances and speeches that I give across the US. I’m trying to take it Internationally very soon. I have performed for day care children, prison inmates, college students, at corporate functions and at youth homes. I incorporate being a spoken word poet, art therapy, and my social intellect into performances that will inspire a change in my audiences.
What sets me apart, is that I’m not gimmicky. As an artist it’s easy to follow trends and mimic other people that you view as successful. I try to stay authentic to myself with the intent of uplifting people. If I create something, it’s because it makes me happy; I’m not doing it to jump on a bandwagon. I also strive for my works to be universal and shy away from niches. I want my works to be placed in Norton Anthologies and be studied 500 years after I am long gone.
I want people to know that I am creatively free and unapologetically me and I do a little bit of everything because it makes me happy. Currently I am learning how to play the guitar and writing my own music. What I am most proud of is that I never stop. I never stop trying to make myself better and trying to produce work that will affect my audience in a positive way.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I’d known about artistic fellowships and grants. There are many resources to empower artists in this world, and that is what I want to be; empowered spiritually, mentally, and financially so I can create the biggest positive impact that I can.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I want to be effective with my words, not just write something for the sake of it, or to be trendy. Everything I write has a natural spirit to it. I try not to force anything.
My personal goals are to win a Nobel Peace Prize, NAACP, a Pulitzer, to be an EGOT, and have my works included in Norton Anthologies. And, And I am going to do it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.erikareneeland.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikareneeland/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erikareneeland
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-renee-land-59855563/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/erikareneeland
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW2Ltr4qwIADy4ktrkMgQmA
- Other: Sound Cloud: https://soundcloud.com/iamlyricallunatic Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lyrical-lunatic/1445595962 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6D67DMNHHCR1xvveMORwU0 Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/10711972