2023 Non-Fiction Writer in Residence: Angela Sterritt

About Angela Sterritt

Angela Sterritt was SFU Library's Non-Fiction Writer in Residence January - April 2023.

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.

Watch Angela in conversation with journalist Michelle Cyca

We held a celebration to launch Angela's residency, an evening of conversation with Angela and journalist and writer Michelle Cyca on January 16, 2023, presented by SFU Library and SFU Public Square.

2022 Non-Fiction Writer in Residence: Eternity Martis

About Eternity Martis

Eternity Martis was SFU Library's Non-Fiction Writer in Residence January - April 2022.

Eternity Martis is an award-winning Toronto-based journalist. She was a 2017 National Magazine Awards finalist for Best New Writer and the 2018 winner of the Canadian Online Publishing Awards for Best Investigative Article. Her writing has appeared in Vice, Huffington Post, The Walrus, CBC, Hazlitt, The Fader, Salon, and on academic syllabuses around the world. Her work on race and language has influenced media style guide changes across the country. She is the course developer and instructor of Reporting On Race: The Black Community in the Media at Ryerson University, the first of its kind in Canada and the 2021 Asper Visiting Professor at UBC. She earned an honours BA and a Certificate in Writing from Western University and an MJ from Ryerson University. In 2020, she was named one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women by Women's Executive Network.

Her bestselling debut memoir, They Said This Would Be Fun, was a "Best Book of the Year" pick by Globe and Mail, Apple, Audible and Chapters/Indigo. CBC called the book one of "20 moving Canadian memoirs to read right now" and PopSugar named it one of "5 Books About Race on College Campuses Every Student Should Read." The TV/film rights for the book have been sold to Temple Street Productions, a division of Boat Rocker Media. This year, They Said This Would Be Fun won the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Non-Fiction.

Watch Eternity in conversation with Kamal Al-Solaylee

We held a launch event on January 20, 2022 to celebrate Eternity's residency, presented by SFU Library and SFU Public Square.

Watch the recording of Eternity in conversation with fellow non-fiction author and journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee. Moderated by SFU student Emily Lam.

2020/2021 Non-Fiction Writer in Residence: Mark Winston

About Mark Winston

Mark L. Winston was the inaugural SFU Library Non-Fiction Writer in Residence.

He is the recipient of the 2015 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-fiction for his book Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive, and an Independent Publishers 2019 Gold Medal for Listening to the Bees, co-authored with poet Renée Saklikar. Dr. Winston is one of the world’s leading experts on bees and pollination, and an internationally recognized researcher, teacher and writer. He directed Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue for 12 years, where he founded the Centre’s Semester in Dialogue, a program that creates leadership development opportunities that equip and empower students to address community issues. Winston’s work has appeared in numerous books, commentary columns for the Vancouver Sun, The New York Times, the Globe and Mail, The Sciences, Orion magazine, and frequently on CBC radio and television and National Public Radio. As an award-winning writer and editor, he works with students, scientists, other professionals and writers to develop compelling non-fiction, from proposals and newspaper opinion pieces to magazine articles and books.

He currently is a Professor and Senior Fellow in Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue, and a Professor of Biological Sciences.

Testimonials and publications

As the Non-Fiction Writer in Residence, Mark Winston consulted on a number of publications for public audiences from SFU researchers, including:

Alice Fleerackers, It Pays to be a Space Case, published in Nautilus
Robin Prest, Sustaining public confidence through COVID-19 will require leaders who listen, op ed published in the Vancouver Sun
Jennifer Wolowic, As in the U.S., rise of hatred, lack of accountability and civil strife are degrading democracy in Canada, op ed published in the Vancouver Sun
Shauna Sylvester, SFU’s Semester in Dialogue, the COVID edition, published in University Affairs

Testimonials

"All writers need good editors: editors who can identify a story's weaknesses and appreciate its strengths, and possess the clarity and insight to help you make those strengths shine. Mark Winston ... guided me in shaping up a piece I'd been struggling with for months, giving me the advice I needed to turn my half-formed ideas into a polished story that I was proud to pitch and, eventually, see published." ~ Alice Fleerackers, PhD student

"I appreciated the care, thoughtfulness and attention he gave to me when I shared drafts of my writings with him. He didn't try and suppress my voice, but helped me articulate it in an accessible and authentic way. He challenged me to go deeper in my reflections so that I could communicate what was core to my message and avoid unnecessary tangents and he helped me understand the basics of crafting a clear sentence. I know that I'm a better writer when Mark reviews my work." ~Shauna Sylvester, Executive Director, SFU Centre for Dialogue