Book banning across the country continues to concern the Canadian literary community, especially in Alberta where certain books are slated to be pulled from school shelves this Fall. What do these types of bans mean for writers and for readers, now and in the coming months? Years? What calls to action might help prevent the banning of books in the future? Join our panelists and experts as they explore the ramifications of banned books and more this August.
The Panelists
Gail de Vos
Storyteller, author, librarian and educator, Gail de Vos has been an active promoter of the oral tradition of literature in Alberta for over three decades. Gail teaches courses on storytelling as well as courses on Canadian Children’s Literature, Indigenous Literature for Young Readers, Comic Books and Graphic Novels at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Library and Information Studies. Gail is the author of ten award winning resource books on storytelling and folklore in popular culture intended for educators working with students in Grade 6 and above as well as numerous guest chapters on comic books and graphic novels, storytelling, monsters, and folklore in popular culture for academic monographs. While her specialty is telling contemporary legends to young and not so young adults, she is equally at ease telling stories to young audiences. She is an active champion for intellectual freedom in her storytelling, writing, course material, and on social media.
http://storytellerdevos.com/
Ira Wells
Ira Wells is a writer and associate professor of literature at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, and the President of PEN Canada. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Globe and Mail, Guardian, The New Republic, and many other venues. His most recent book is On Book Banning. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children.
You can find him at Unacknowledged Legislation on Substack.
Peter Midgley
Peter Midgley is the author of several books of poetry, children’s literature, non-fiction, and plays. He has received national and international recognition as a writer and editor. His latest book, let us not think of them as barbarians, is an elegy for Namibia, the country of his birth, and a meditation on the multiple legacies of colonialism. His scholarship includes investigations into the relationship between writing, publishing and ideology, and he has spoken internationally on the subjects of censorship and writing as resistance.
https://www.midgley.ca/
Malcolm Azania
Malcolm Azania (Minister Faust) is an award-winning novelist, award-winning print journalist, radio host-producer, television host and associate producer, sketch comedy writer, video game writer, playwright, and poet. He has spoken and taught workshops widely.
ministerfaust.com
All content for Writers' Guild of Alberta Podcast is the property of Writers' Guild of Alberta and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Book banning across the country continues to concern the Canadian literary community, especially in Alberta where certain books are slated to be pulled from school shelves this Fall. What do these types of bans mean for writers and for readers, now and in the coming months? Years? What calls to action might help prevent the banning of books in the future? Join our panelists and experts as they explore the ramifications of banned books and more this August.
The Panelists
Gail de Vos
Storyteller, author, librarian and educator, Gail de Vos has been an active promoter of the oral tradition of literature in Alberta for over three decades. Gail teaches courses on storytelling as well as courses on Canadian Children’s Literature, Indigenous Literature for Young Readers, Comic Books and Graphic Novels at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Library and Information Studies. Gail is the author of ten award winning resource books on storytelling and folklore in popular culture intended for educators working with students in Grade 6 and above as well as numerous guest chapters on comic books and graphic novels, storytelling, monsters, and folklore in popular culture for academic monographs. While her specialty is telling contemporary legends to young and not so young adults, she is equally at ease telling stories to young audiences. She is an active champion for intellectual freedom in her storytelling, writing, course material, and on social media.
http://storytellerdevos.com/
Ira Wells
Ira Wells is a writer and associate professor of literature at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, and the President of PEN Canada. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Globe and Mail, Guardian, The New Republic, and many other venues. His most recent book is On Book Banning. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children.
You can find him at Unacknowledged Legislation on Substack.
Peter Midgley
Peter Midgley is the author of several books of poetry, children’s literature, non-fiction, and plays. He has received national and international recognition as a writer and editor. His latest book, let us not think of them as barbarians, is an elegy for Namibia, the country of his birth, and a meditation on the multiple legacies of colonialism. His scholarship includes investigations into the relationship between writing, publishing and ideology, and he has spoken internationally on the subjects of censorship and writing as resistance.
https://www.midgley.ca/
Malcolm Azania
Malcolm Azania (Minister Faust) is an award-winning novelist, award-winning print journalist, radio host-producer, television host and associate producer, sketch comedy writer, video game writer, playwright, and poet. He has spoken and taught workshops widely.
ministerfaust.com
Controversy At Noon: The ethics of writing on social issues
Writers' Guild of Alberta Podcast
58 minutes 49 seconds
1 year ago
Controversy At Noon: The ethics of writing on social issues
The ethics of writing on social issues can be a complicated topic of conversation for writers: What does it mean, really? Are certain issues off-limits for particular writers? What are the types of issues that fall under this very broad theme? How can we strive to write characters and narratives that feel meaningful, informed, and appropriate to the story we’re trying to tell? Join our group of panellists as they discuss the ethics of writing on social issues during our first Controversy @ Noon panel in 2024.
About The Panellists
Dr. Jenna Butler (she/her)
www.jennabutler.com
Dr. Jenna Butler (she/her) is an award-winning poet, essayist, mentor, and editor.
She is the author of three books of poetry, Seldom Seen Road, Wells, and Aphelion; a collection of ecological essays, A Profession of Hope: Farming on the Edge of the Grizzly Trail; and the Arctic travelogue Magnetic North: Sea Voyage to Svalbard. Her book, Revery: A Year of Bees, essays about beekeeping, climate grief, and trauma recovery, was a finalist for the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award in Non-Fiction and a longlisted title for CBC Canada Reads 2023.
Butler teaches creative writing at the University of Saskatchewan and serves as the Environmental Writing Fellow for the Spring Creek Project and Oregon Wild. She teaches for Calgary’s Alexandra Writers’ Centre as their outgoing Writer in Residence, focusing on ecological writing. Her work has its roots in the off-grid organic farm she runs with her husband in northern Treaty 6, Alberta.
Natasha Deen
natashadeen.com
Recent works: The Spooky Sleuths series, Book three, Don’t Go Near the Water!
Guyanese-Canadian NATASHA DEEN is a best-selling author, with novels for kids, teens, and adults, and she’s a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. Her novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani, won the Amy Mather Teen Book Award and her most recent YA title, The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad was a Globe & Mail‘s Top 100 Books for 2022. When she’s not writing, she teaches Introduction to Children’s Writing with the University of Toronto’s SCS and spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house.
Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike
www.instagram.com/uche_peter_umez/
Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike is the author of literary works such as there’s more (2023), Double Wahala, Double Trouble (2021), Wish Maker (2021), and a co-editor of Wreaths for a Wayfarer (2020).
Rayanne Haines (she/her)
www.rayannehaines.com/
Rayanne Haines is an award-winning author, educator, and cultural producer. She is the creator and host of the literary podcast Crow Reads, is the President of the League of Canadian Poets, and teaches at MacEwan University. Her hybrid poetry collection, Tell the Birds Your Body is Not a Gun won the 2022 Stephan G. Stephansson Alberta Literary Award and was shortlisted for both the Robert Kroetch Award and the ReLit Award. She’s been published in the Globe and Mail, Minola Review, Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire and others. A CNF poetry and essay collection exploring grief, identity, and gendered trauma is forthcoming from Frontenac House September 2024
Bibliography:
1 - https://bookriot.com/mistreatment-of-women-in-game-of-thrones/
2 - https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/kosoko-jackson-a-place-for-wolves.html#
3 - https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/american-dirt-book-controversy/
4 -https://lareviewofbooksorg/article/my-taco-laughs-at-you-on-death-threats-aimed-at-women-of-color-who-dont-fellate-white-supremacy/
Writers' Guild of Alberta Podcast
Book banning across the country continues to concern the Canadian literary community, especially in Alberta where certain books are slated to be pulled from school shelves this Fall. What do these types of bans mean for writers and for readers, now and in the coming months? Years? What calls to action might help prevent the banning of books in the future? Join our panelists and experts as they explore the ramifications of banned books and more this August.
The Panelists
Gail de Vos
Storyteller, author, librarian and educator, Gail de Vos has been an active promoter of the oral tradition of literature in Alberta for over three decades. Gail teaches courses on storytelling as well as courses on Canadian Children’s Literature, Indigenous Literature for Young Readers, Comic Books and Graphic Novels at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Library and Information Studies. Gail is the author of ten award winning resource books on storytelling and folklore in popular culture intended for educators working with students in Grade 6 and above as well as numerous guest chapters on comic books and graphic novels, storytelling, monsters, and folklore in popular culture for academic monographs. While her specialty is telling contemporary legends to young and not so young adults, she is equally at ease telling stories to young audiences. She is an active champion for intellectual freedom in her storytelling, writing, course material, and on social media.
http://storytellerdevos.com/
Ira Wells
Ira Wells is a writer and associate professor of literature at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, and the President of PEN Canada. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Globe and Mail, Guardian, The New Republic, and many other venues. His most recent book is On Book Banning. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children.
You can find him at Unacknowledged Legislation on Substack.
Peter Midgley
Peter Midgley is the author of several books of poetry, children’s literature, non-fiction, and plays. He has received national and international recognition as a writer and editor. His latest book, let us not think of them as barbarians, is an elegy for Namibia, the country of his birth, and a meditation on the multiple legacies of colonialism. His scholarship includes investigations into the relationship between writing, publishing and ideology, and he has spoken internationally on the subjects of censorship and writing as resistance.
https://www.midgley.ca/
Malcolm Azania
Malcolm Azania (Minister Faust) is an award-winning novelist, award-winning print journalist, radio host-producer, television host and associate producer, sketch comedy writer, video game writer, playwright, and poet. He has spoken and taught workshops widely.
ministerfaust.com
