Vironika Wilde is a Toronto-based, Ukrainian-born and Russian-indigenous poet, spoken word artist, activist, writing coach, and workshop facilitator. Readers often call her raw, honest, and willing to spill tough truths about trauma, society, and the human condition.
As a stage poet, she’s performed in many cities, including Toronto, Vancouver, Honolulu, Portland, Sydney, and Melbourne. Her debut poetry collection, Love and Gaslight, as well as her spoken word album, Too Much For You, released in 2020.
In 2022, Vironika performed poetry at the Toronto International Storytelling Festival, won third place in Room Magazine‘s poetry contest and was shortlisted for the Dillydoun Flash Fiction Prize.
In 2023, she received the Ontario Arts Council Literary Grant for her upcoming poetry collection, Step-Mother Tongue, and again returned to the Toronto International Storytelling Festival for a group show involving theatre and spoken word.
Vironika’s words have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Forbes, Bustle, Psych Central, Insight Timer app, Poetry Pause, Book Riot, and poets.ca.
When Vironika isn’t writing, she loves getting lost, looking at the stars, singing, and eating pickles (sometimes, all at once).
Personal Growth Writing (2012 – 2018)
In her early twenties, Vironika hit rock bottom. In a haze of insomnia, drug use, and adrenal exhaustion, she became delusional and suicidal. Instead of leading her into an early grave, this experience launched Vironika into what she later called a “spiritual awakening.” She began to question her thoughts, heal her past, and build a more loving relationship with herself. These experiences formed the basis of her first book, The Love Mindset, which won the Readers’ Favorite silver medal for Best Self-Help book of 2013.
Driven by an urge to spread healing, Vironika began to do life coaching, speaking, and writing in the personal growth field. She spoke about the importance of self-love, self-care, and authenticity. In self-help, Vironika thought she’d found the perfect line of work.
Shortly after releasing her first book, Vironika sold her things to travel and began to write her second book, which she intended to be a traditional self-help book about loving self-talk. However, she soon began to see her work in a harsh, new light. She realized how often self-help perpetuated people’s suffering by selling them on quick fixes and “magical” solutions. She became aware of how many people were losing self-respect while trying to follow expert advice on how to build self-respect.
In these painful realizations, Vironika saw an opportunity for activism. She decided that her next release would not be a 10-step manual about self-talk. Instead, it would be a book that challenged the current practices in self-help and encouraged the people who were victims of those practices to trust themselves, build self-awareness, and discover their own answers (instead of always seeking expert advice). The Art of Talking to Yourself launched in June of 2017. Since then, it has reached #1 on Amazon’s bestseller charts in numerous categories, including Consciousness and Thought, Self-Help, and Personal Growth. The Tao Te Ching, one of Vironika’s favourite books, suggests: “Do your work and then step back.” Inspired by this idea, Vironika announced that The Art of Talking to Yourself would be her last self-help book and that she would move on to explore her childhood passions: poetry, fiction, and music.
What’s Next?
Vironika is writing poetry and hoping to release a new collection in the next few years. She’s also working on several fiction manuscripts and dabbling in music. You’re welcome to keep up with her creative evolution on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.