By: Don Sedgwick
The beautiful new Toronto office of publishing giant Penguin Random House Canada was the site of a recent open house for graduate programs at King’s. Thirty graduates, current students, and prospective students joined media and book industry professionals on October 19th to mix and mingle. Representing King’s were: Kelly Toughill, Director of the School of Journalism; Tim Currie (BJ ’92), Graduate Coordinator and incoming Director of the School of Journalism; and Don Sedgwick, Executive Director of the King’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction.
Two prospective students flew all the way from Calgary to attend the event. Jack Lawson and Leslie Marion were both thrilled to meet students, faculty, and book industry professionals. The day after the event, several guests emailed to offer further comments on the evening.
“It was great seeing familiar faces,” wrote Larry Meikle from the MFA Class of 2015. “The evening was a lot of fun.”
“Great to see you all!” said Shelley Ambrose, publisher of The Walrus magazine, a long-time supporter of King’s. She has donated numerous pages of advertising to help King’s promote the MFA in Creative Nonfiction and the Master of Journalism New Ventures program.
Among the celebrity guests was Anne Collins, publisher of the Random Knopf Publishing Group. She has the pleasure of working with astronaut Chris Hadfield, retired general Romeo Dallaire, and a host of other national and international celebrities. She also chairs the King’s MFA national advisory board, which met before the open house to talk about future plans for this highly successful program.
Based on the enthusiasm from all quarters, King’s will make this open house in Toronto an annual event each November.
