Career Conversations Panel Series:
Discovering Careers in Writing & Publishing
January 6, 2011
4:30 – 6:30 pm
Harry Crowe Room (Room 109 Atkinson)
In partnership with the Centre for Student Success and New College, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. Sponsored by York University Alumni and Advancement Services.
Interested in a career working in Writing & Publishing? Want to meet York Alumni and other professionals working in these fields?
Connect with professionals currently enjoying careers in Writing & Publishing and get the inside scoop on what it's really like to work in this field. During this panel professionals will share their personal stories about breaking into the field, how their career paths took them from graduation to where they are now, what knowledge, skills and experience helped them succeed in their jobs and what types of opportunities are available in the field. The panel will be moderated by one of the Career Centre's team members and followed by an open forum where students will have an opportunity to ask the panelists their own questions.
Participating Panelists:
Kathy Buckworth
Writer (personal website)
Alumna: BA Political Science, York University, 1986
Kathy Buckworth is a mother of four kids, who only has two hands, and one of them is usually holding a glass of Chardonnay. She is also an award winning writer, television personality and public speaker, with numerous publishing credits in both national and local magazines and newspapers.
Some of her publications include: The Secret Life of SuperMom, The BlackBerry Diaries: Adventures in Modern Motherhood, and her new book, Shut Up & Eat: Tales of Chicken, Children & Chardonnay was released in March, 2010. She is the only two-time winner of the Excellence in Humour Writing Award, (2006, 2008) presented by the Professional Writers Association of Canada. She won the Established Literary Arts Award at the 2010 Mississauga Arts Awards. She is a feature writer for Sympatico.ca and writes regular columns for ParentsCanada, The Women's Post, Post City Magazines, Ottawa Families, Blush Magazine, Oh Baby! and Health & Harmony. Her monthly column, "Funny Mummy" appears on over 25 websites across Canada, the U.S. and New Zealand, as well as in print.
Kathy helps Moms everywhere laugh and realize that balance is just something you need to do while putting on your peep-toe heels. And holding that glass of Chardonnay.
Christine Estima
Playwright, Novelist, Actress, and Arts Journalist (personal website)
Alumna: BA Theatre and Creative Writing, York University, 2004 & MA Interdisciplinary Studies, York University, 2006
Being half Portuguese & half Lebanese, I began my journey of petulance and precociousness in the suburbs of Montreal and Toronto. I thusly figured I'd turn out to be a nun, or an explorer. A few years at a Catholic school cured me of the first disease.
I am a playwright, novelist, actress, and arts journalist sleeping in some forgotten corner of a European railway station. As a feminist/vegetarian/pacifist/bookworm, I have solo-backpacked across the Middle East, Europe (East and West, including the Balkans), Asia, South America, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and Ireland. I hold a Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University and my award-nominated thesis explores narratives of gendered-ethnicities on the Toronto stage, post 9/11. Try saying that five times, really fast. I cannot wear white without spilling something on it, but you'll still find me, most likely, in the fridge at 4am.
My writing has appeared in Bitch Magazine, CBC, The National Post, NOW Magazine, Matrix Magazine, Exclaim!, Chart Magazine, The Malahat Review, Descant Literary Journal, Room Magazine, UKULA, CanPlay, The Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, The Big Picture, TheGate.ca, TorontoPlus.ca, Canadian Theatre Review, the travel anthology Navigating Customs: A Tendril Anthology (Cumulus Press), and the literary anthology ToK: Writing the New Toronto.
Playwrighting credits include, Vignettes In The Dark (2004, Toronto Fringe Festival), The Spadina Monologues (2005, The New Ideas Festival, Alumnae Theatre; 2007, Theatre Passe Muraille backspace, 2010 Foundry Theatre), and The Central Line (2009, International Women Playwrights Conference, Mumbai).
Edward Fenner
Web Communications & Publications Assistant, York University, Office of the Associate Vice-President International
& Freelance Writer/Editor (personal website)
Alumnus: BA Professional Writing, York University, 2010
I have known since I was growing up in the 1970s that writing would be my life. Most of my 25-plus years in the business has been in technical communications. Gradually, I explored corporate communications, marketing writing, corporate journalism, and public speaking. Recently, I have re-discovered my creative writing side through writing plays and poetry and acting as an advocate for mature students and adult learning issues. Having a diverse skill set and portfolio is advantageous to any professional communicator and certainly helps me in my many duties at the AVPI's office and private consulting. Returning to school in 2004 as a mature student and studying writing has helped my writing skills but opened up new opportunities. I am now exploring science writing while I pursue a MA in Science and Technology Studies here at York where I have also been mentoring students in creating a semi-annual literary journal called Existere – Journal of Arts and Literature.
Christina Vecchiato
Publishers' Representative
Kate Walker & Co
York Alumna: BA English, York University, 2008
I have always loved reading - billboards, novels, magazines, the ingredients lists on packages. I have also always loved talking to and meeting new people. I have found the perfect career path that encompasses both of these things. I had a teacher that once said to me " Do what you love and the money will come" She was right. And even though I know I will never be a millionaire, I can honestly say that I am doing what I love, and that is worth more than box of books' weight in gold!
Catherine Pike
Ex-Art Director Editorial
Toronto Star
York Alumna: BA Fine Arts, York University, 1976
It was only after seeing one of my roommate's assignments that I discovered 'design'. After taking several courses at York I needed to create a portfolio and did that by going to graduate school in England. I have worked in magazines and have been at the Toronto Star for 28 years, having applied to a classified ad for a junior graphic designer. While at York I was on the fencing team and was the Excalibur correspondent. It was my first introduction to newspapers. I started my career as an assistant to typographer Carl Brett and then had my own freelance business for 3 years before working for Maclean-Hunter then the Star. I am the recipient of a Gold Award from the Advertising & Design Club of Canada and am currently teaching part time in the Department of Media Studies at Humber College.
