Creativity and Society Industry Professionals Panel
Creativity & Society Industry Professionals Panel: March 20, 4-6 p.m. | NF 119
Curious about working in a creative field? Join us in conversation with a panel of four industry professionals who will share their experience in areas including publishing, editing, podcast production, marketing and publicity, communications, and ghostwriting. This is an opportunity for students to meet professionals in diverse creative fields and learn about possible career paths.
Featuring:
Jessica Johnson is a senior fellow at McGill University studying the future of the CBC/Radio-Canada, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, where she teaches literary journalism and media studies. The former editor-in-chief of The Walrus, she has contributed to a wide range of media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, National Post, the Guardian, The New Republic, and Elle. In 2021, she wrote the acclaimed essay “Journalism’s Wicked Problem: Save What’s Lost or Invest in What’s New?” She also produces the Substack newsletter “Writing for People Who Hate Writing.”
Mitchell Stuart is an award-winning podcast producer and a senior fellow at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University.He is currently the senior producer of The Globe and Mail's technology show Machines Like Us, the producer of the CBC podcast Crime Story, and the showrunner of a forthcoming audio docuseries with The Toronto Star. He is also a frequent contributor to the CBC radio programme Ideas, and was the mixer and sound designer behind two of the most popular podcast titles of the past year: Broomgate (CBC) and Kaitlyn's Baby (CBC/BBC).
Victoria Hetherington is the author of two critically acclaimed science-fiction novels: Amazon First Novel Award shortlisted Mooncalves (Now or Never, 2019) and Autonomy (Dundurn Press, 2022). Her bestselling nonfiction book Into the Mist: Finding CF-JDO (Kestrel Publications, 2022), explores a Canadian aviation tragedy in rural Saskatchewan. Friend Machine, a nonfiction book exploring artificial companionship, is slated for publication with Sutherland House Books, tentatively 2026. As a literary moderator and panelist, Victoria speaks at festivals, libraries and conferences including Word on the Street Toronto, Fan Expo Canada, the International Festival of Authors in Toronto, Calgary Wordfest, and the Ontario Library Association. Victoria is also a television writer, a communications specialist with a focus on healthcare, and a ghostwriter of book-length projects.
Kate Earnshaw received her Master’s in Gender Studies from the University of Toronto before completing a publishing certificate from Humber College. She is the Manager of Brand Marketing & Communications at HarperCollins' Harlequin imprint and previously worked in the Marketing & Publicity Department at Second Story Press, a small feminist press in Toronto. She has spent time in various marketing roles both in publishing and the sporting goods industry. Outside of work, you can find her reading at pubs, watching Jane Austen adaptations, and slowly working toward her PhD at York University.
A reception will follow in the Victoria University Common Room. Registration available via Eventbrite here.
People
Adam Sol, PhD, is the Launch Director for the Centre for Creativity and the Coordinator of the Creative Expression & Society Minor. He teaches a number of courses for that program, as well in the Vic One Program. Before joining Victoria College, he was an Associate Professor of English at Laurentian University. He is best known as a poet and critic of poetry. His academic scholarship focuses on the concept of ethnicity in American literature, particularly from the early 20th century.
Email: a.sol@utoronto.ca
Kelly Baron recently defended her PhD in contemporary Canadian Literature from the University of Toronto. She's a regular reviewer for Literary Review of Canada and her work can be found in Canadian Literature, Studies in Canadian Literature and English Studies in Canada, among others. With Andrew DuBois, she's co-editing Sing in Me, Oh Muse: New Essays on the Crossroads of Music and Literature (Bloomsbury, 2025). Her research interests are in contemporary Canadian Literature, Canadian book culture, literary audio and the connections between music and literature.
Email: vic.creativity@utoronto.ca
News
The Alta Lind Cook Prize is now accepting applications! Valued at up to $450, it is awarded to a student of Victoria College for the best original music composition (vocal, instrumental, popular, or classical) or the best original literary composition (prose, poetry, or drama) in either English or French. Full details are available here.
Research Day is coming! If you're interested in sharing something you've worked on the past year, either in a CRE course or outside of the classroom, please fill out this form here by Monday, February 24.
Contact Us
Interested in hosting an event with the Centre for Creativity? We especially love event ideas from students! Get in touch with us at vic.creativity@utoronto.ca.