Non-Fiction Writer in Residence: Angela Sterritt

Angela Sterritt, 2023 Non-Fiction Writer in Residence

SFU Library's Non-Fiction Writer in Residence program

The SFU Library Non-Fiction Writer in Residence program emphasizes the power of non-fiction writing to share knowledge beyond academia, enhancing the SFU community's capacity to tell compelling research and scholarship stories. This complements the Library's growing activities in the area of knowledge mobilization.

The Non-Fiction Writer in Residence will:

  • Deliver workshops on non-fiction writing for public audiences
  • Showcase non-fiction writing that brings scholarship to a public audience through public events
  • Offer opportunities for SFU graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and staff to receive feedback and support on their own public writing projects
Check out our past Writers in Residence.

About Angela Sterritt, the 2023 Non-Fiction Writer in Residence

Angela Sterritt is SFU Library's Non-Fiction Writer in Residence January - April 2023.
Angela Sterritt
Photo credit: Maggie McPherson

Angela Sterritt is an award-winning investigative journalist and author from the Gitanmaax community of the Gitxsan Nation on her dad’s side and from Bell Island Newfoundland on her maternal side. Sterritt has worked as a television, radio, and digital journalist for more than a decade. She is currently the host of the CBC original podcast Land Back, to be released in November 2022.

Her book Unbroken, a work that is part memoir and part investigation into the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women will be published on May 30, 2023, by Greystone Books.

In 2021, Sterritt won an Academy award (Canadian Screen Award) for best reporter of the year in Canada for her coverage of an Indigenous man and his then 12-year-old granddaughter who were arrested while trying to open a bank account at BMO. Sterritt also won a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for the same reporting. In 2020, Sterritt was named in Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 list of the city’s most influential people.

In 2020, she was nominated for best local reporter by the Canadian Screen Awards for her reporting on Indigenous babies apprehended by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. In 2019, Sterritt’s documentary on the complexity of Indigenous support for and challenges against the TransMountain Pipeline expansion project won an RTDNA award for best long feature.

In 2017, Sterritt accepted the Investigative Award of the Year from Canadian Journalists for Free Expression for coverage of missing and murdered Indigenous women. She was awarded a prestigious William Southam Journalism Fellowship at Massey College in Toronto and was the first known First Nations person in Canada ever to receive the award in the school’s 60-year history

As a motivational speaker, Sterritt talks about breaking stereotypes and creating change and relationships in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. In 2020, she gave a Ted Talk about smashing stereotypes of Indigenous people.

 

Spring 2023: manuscript consultations with the Non-Fiction Writer in Residence

Angela Sterritt is offering 30-minute non-fiction writing consultations for SFU students, faculty, staff, and postdoctoral fellows, including for opinion pieces, personal essays and memoir, features, or news articles. She is open to discussing both projects in the idea phase or manuscripts.

Note that Angela may not be able to meet all requests.

Submit a consultation request

Request a 30-minute consultation by sending a pitch (maximum 300 words) to: angela.sterritt@gmail.com Your pitch should include:

  • the intended format / genre of your project;
  • the audience;
  • publication outlets you have in mind;
  • a paragraph relating to your writing background.

If available, please include a 500-1000 word sample (as an attachment or link to a site) demonstrating your public writing.

Spring 2023: workshops with the Non-Fiction Writer in Residence

Writing through trauma: How journalists are doing things differently, to care for those in their stories and themselves

About the workshop

A conversation between Tamara Cherry and Karen Snowshoe, trauma-informed journalism experts, and Angela Sterritt. Not just for journalists but anyone wanting to have a trauma informed practice in their work and life. 

This event is part of SFU Library's series of activities with our Non-Fiction Writer in Residence, journalist and author Angela Sterritt! Learn more about the Non-Fiction Writer in Residence events.

Speakers

Tamara Cherry is a trauma researcher, survivor advocate, and award-winning journalist who spent the bulk of her career in some of Canada’s largest newsrooms. In late 2019, Tamara left her post as CTV News Toronto’s crime specialist to form Pickup Communications, a public relations firm that supports trauma survivors and the stakeholders who surround them. Tamara is the author of All the Bumpy Pebbles, a novel about domestic sex trafficking that was inspired by the stories shared with Tamara by survivors. Her forthcoming non-fiction debut, The Trauma Beat: A Case for Re-Thinking the Business of Bad News, focuses on her research examining the impact of the media on trauma survivors and the impact of trauma on members of the media. Part-journalism, part-memoir, The Trauma Beat draws on the experiences of more than 100 trauma survivors — from homicides to traffic fatalities, sexual violence to mass violence. Tamara is a regular voice on Newstalk 1010 radio in Toronto and across the iHeart Radio Talk Network. She lives in Regina, Saskatchewan with her partner and their three kids.

Since 2009 Karen Snowshoe has developed a dispute resolution practice that draws upon her formal education, lived-experience and traditional knowledge generationally passed down through her Tetlit-Gwich’in heritage. Karen is a leader in providing trauma- informed and culturally sensitive investigations. As senior counsel with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S), Karen built, trained, and led a national team of statement gatherers who conducted trauma-informed interviews across Canada.

Karen is a highly sought-after educator in trauma- informed practice. Her customized workshops on Indigenous Reconciliation and Trauma-Informed Practice have garnered widespread acclaim for inspiring participant to engage in reconciliation in a way that honours the humanity and dignity of all. In the spirit of keeping people safe and grounded during sessions, Karen co-facilitates with a Registered Clinical Counselor rooted in cultural humility.

Karen brings a unique perspective to her work, which includes respect and appreciation for the diversity of peoples and cultures throughout British Columbia, Canada, and the world.

Karen has been a long-time resident on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxw̱ ú7mesh (Squamish), and Selí̓lw̓ itulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, today known as Vancouver. She also lived and worked in Canada’s north (the Yukon and the Northwest Territories) for 14 years.

Angela Sterritt is an award-winning investigative journalist and author from the Gitanmaax community of the Gitxsan Nation on her dad’s side and from Bell Island Newfoundland on her maternal side. Sterritt has worked as a television, radio, and digital journalist for more than a decade. She is currently the host of the CBC original podcast Land Back. Her book Unbroken, a work that is part memoir and part investigation into the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women will be published on May 30, 2023, by Greystone Books.

 

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Thursday, March 23, 2023 - 2:00pm to 3:30pm
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

Ethics and consent in non-fiction writing

About the workshop

In this panel discussion, journalists and authors will talk about ethical approaches to writing about vulnerable communities, on sensitive and complex topics and when pushing for accountability from authorities that are being accused of harm. We will look at how extractive forms of non-fiction writing is being challenged by BIPOC journalists. 

This event is part of SFU Library's series of activities with our Non-Fiction Writer in Residence, journalist and author Angela Sterritt! Learn more about the Non-Fiction Writer in Residence events.

Speakers

TBA

Register for upcoming workshops

DatesLocation
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 - 10:00am to 11:30am
via Zoom (link will be sent to participants 24 hours before the workshop/event begins)

 

January 2023 Event: Meet Angela Sterritt

Celebrate SFU Library’s incoming Non-Fiction Writer in Residence! Join Angela Sterritt for an evening of conversation with journalist and writer Michelle Cyca on Monday, January 16, 2023, at 7pm, in-person at SFU Vancouver.

The event is free, and open to the public. Presented by SFU Library and SFU Public Square.

About Michelle Cyca

Michelle Cyca

Michelle Cyca is a freelance journalist and contributing editor to Maclean's. Her features, essays and literary criticism can be found in The Walrus, Chatelaine, Canadian Business, Quill & Quire, IndigiNews, and The Tyee, among other publications. She participated in the Banff Centre's Literary Journalism Residency in 2022, and was the co-publisher of SAD Mag from 2013 until 2018. Michelle is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 territory, and lives in Vancouver with her family.

 

January 16 event details, reception, and registration

Date: January 16, 2023
Time: 7pm
Location: Room 1200-1500, SFU Segal Building (500 Granville St.)

The event is free and open to the public. Please join us for a reception after the event.

This event will be recorded and shared afterwards.

Registration options

To register for this event, visit our Eventbrite.

  • Use of Eventbrite is voluntary. Eventbrite data is stored on U.S. servers.
  • If you prefer not to use Eventbrite to register for this event for privacy reasons, please register by emailing Chloe Riley at car11@sfu.ca

Ticket holders: Doors open at 6:30PM. As this SFU Library event is free, it is our policy to overbook. In case of a full program, your ticket reservation may not guarantee admission. We recommend you arrive early.

Date(s)
Spring semester
Contact for further information
Please contact Chloe Riley at car11@sfu.ca