Working in the World of IdeasLiteratures of Modernity
ryerson.ca/graduate/literatures
Faculty of ArtsEnglish Department Literatures of Modernity
Each year, half of our cohort elect to take up a practicum, and they each spend six weeks
of the spring/summer term working in the world of ideas. While their peers pursue indepen-
dent research projects, practicum students gain direct professional experience and the
opportunity to discover from the inside how a wide range of organizations, from small presses
to large film festivals, manage to perform the work they do, and also to contribute to that
work. A selection of their challenges and experiences are featured in the following pages, and
they vary greatly, from exploring manuscripts at a literary agency to developing a communi-
cations and outreach strategy for an arts festival, to the ongoing work of helping publishers
adapt to an increasingly digital market. Our students bring to their placements the more
theoretical knowledge gained in their courses; they also bring their enthusiasm, practical
skills and a strong desire to engage with organizations that are as passionate about literature,
culture and the arts as they are. For our hosts and our students, the experience has been
mutually rewarding. We hope you enjoy reading about what it means to work in the world
of ideas as a practicum student in Ryerson’s Literatures of Modernity program!
Ever since the launch of the MA in Literatures of Modernity in 2008,
housed in Ryerson University’s English Department, the
practicum option has proven very popular with our students and
with our partners, who come from across Toronto’s thriving cultural
and creative industries.
Sophie Thomas Director, Graduate Program in the Literatures of Modernity
Randy BoyagodaChair, English Department
A great learning experience goes beyond classrooms and textbooks. One of the main reasons the Literatures of Modernity program has been such a success is its focus on experiential learning. Our partners and faculty are the key to this success as they inspire students to continue to learn through the challenge of applying their knowledge.
Participating in these partner projects allows our students to engage directly with the world around them. What you read in these pages is just a sample of the interesting and rewarding projects that the students have been involved with and the contributions that they have made to our cultural and creative industry partners.
Immersion in a professional setting, especially when integrated with a strong theoretical foundation, gives students the knowledge and confidence to be creative risk takers. As individuals, they become multifaceted, nimble and professional.
The Literatures of Modernity program exemplifies what we do best in Arts: Linking theory with experiential learning.
I congratulate the achievements of our students and partners as we work together in the world of ideas.
Jean-Paul BoudreauDean
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of ArtsEnglish Department Literatures of Modernity
The Client:Descant Magazine, an internationally acclaimed quarterly literary magazine publishing new and established contemporary writers and visual artists from Canada and around the world.
The Challenge:
How do you transform a 40th anniversary party into an important cultural
event in the life of the city?
The Result:
Our student planned and coordinated an outstanding event for a lively crowd
of contributors, readers, stakeholders and influencers. She curated three image
galleries, generated advanced buzz via social media, and then capitalized upon
the success of the event by creating a communications strategy for the magazine
to expand and extend its connections thereafter.
Student Testimonial
“Events like this help to foster a sense
of community in the ecology of books,
just as literary journals like this provide
writers an independent space to
explore their craft.”
The Client:Essential Skills Ontario (formerly the Ontario Literacy Coalition), a non-profit umbrella organization
that supports literacy across the country. Today, Essential Skills Ontario partners with stakeholders to
deliver effective literacy training and informs policy by providing evidence-based research.
The Challenge:
The organization wanted to identify a major partner that could help carry its
mission forward and expand its profile at the provincial and national levels,
particularly through culture-focused media. Could the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC) be just such a partner?
The Result:
Our student researched the CBC’s rich history of literary advocacy. She further
contextualized this history in a broader analysis of the contemporary non-profit
sector, in hopes of helping the organization make a case for a partnership initiative
with the CBC that was focused on literacy as a historic mission and an active
contemporary concern.
Student Testimonial
“I had to consider the ongoing
challenges that non-profits face
in order to survive and keep
themselves viable and relevant:
the tension between being an
agent of social change and the
economic necessity to
sustain oneself.”
The Client:The Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre (MLC), housed in Ryerson University’s Faculty of Arts, with a mandate to research literary and cultural production in the modernist era (1880-1940).
The Challenge:
The publisher’s waiting, and the scholars need to make sure the work is exact:
how can you help us prepare a volume of modernist poetry for publication on a
strict timeline?
The Result:
In collaboration with resident scholars, our student conducted a meticulous
transcription of a long poem by the Dadaist artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loring-
hoven, for inclusion in a volume of her poetry – the critically-acclaimed Body Sweats:
The Uncensored Writings of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, ed. Irene Gammel and
Suzanne Zelazo.
Student Testimonial
“Most of all, the practicum has taught
me that working in the world of ideas
has to be something you love. When
understood as a vocation rather than
a job, truly remarkable things
can happen.”
The Client:PEN Canada, a non-profit organization campaigning worldwide on behalf of persecuted writers and freedom of expression. The Canadian chapter of International PEN has a membership of writers and supporters from across the country.
The Challenge:
How can PEN develop greater support for its campaigns through identifying
supporters and members in local literary communities around the country?
The Result:
Our student developed a database of forty-three literary festivals from across Canada,
compiled a portfolio of targeted promotional material, and proposed individualized
partnership plans for possible involvement with PEN.
Student Testimonial
“As someone who is fiercely independent,
the placement gave me a better
understanding of the importance of
network-building, even as it helped
me recognize some of my
own strengths.”
The Client:Authors at Harbourfont Centre, an innovative, non-profit organization that cultivates and advances the cause of literature by presenting international and Canadian novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and biographers.
The Challenge:
Authors at Harbourfront Centre brings in an array of acclaimed writers from around
the world, to a city that’s home to ethnic communities from around the world. How
can we bring these two groups together?
The Result:
Our student worked with the International Festival of Authors Community Outreach
program to develop a database of over a hundred contacts among the city’s many
ethnic associations and cultural groups.
Student Testimonial
“Helping Authors at Harbourfront
Centre celebrate cultural creativity
across the communities of the
Greater Toronto Area also led me
to see how complex and vibrant
this city is.”
The Client:The Walrus, Canada’s award-winning general interest magazine, with a mandate to promote educated and informed public discourse.
The Challenge:
To help keep The Walrus in its privileged position as the country’s leading general-
interest publication, particularly in a rapidly-changing media landscape dominated
by questions of traditional long-format journalism’s relevance in a digital era.
The Result:
Through a combination of interviews and research, our student conducted a real-
time, in-house diagnostic of the challenges and opportunities of contemporary
magazine publishing and presented these findings in various ways, as part of her
immersion in the daily life of the magazine.
Student Testimonial
“The Walrus, and media communities
like it, will always be hybrid creatures
of communication… yet it insists its
presence as a discrete entity, as a
print archive of long-form journalism,
is first and foremost a magazine.
As it should.”
The Client:Broken Pencil, a quarterly Toronto print magazine (established 1995) of zine culture and the independent arts.
The Challenge:
How can a magazine that has enjoyed critical acclaim and commands a cult
following – in no small part thanks to its physical nature – adapt for the digital
era without losing this appeal?
The Result:
Our student created and analyzed digital tools to help understand Broken Pencil
contributors and website users, in order to remain responsive to the dynamic
needs of this fiercely independent literary community.
Student Testimonial
“These alternative publications gain
their value in the real, tactile presence they
hold, reacting against the exaggerated claim
that print culture is dead by maintaining the
same creation ideals that they held at their
inception: independence, community,
creativity. These don’t change.”
The Client:BookThug, an independent small press publishing innovative books of poetry, prose and creative criticism that extend the tradition of experimental literature.
The Challenge:
How can a publisher of experimental literature, where often the very materiality
of the work is part of its meaning and appeal, succeed in finding new audiences
for that work in a digital context?
The Result:
Our student helped reconceptualise a series of print works for digital publication,
and as part of this effort curated excerpts from genre-bending titles for online
and interactive previewing.
Student Testimonial
“It has been an honour to be affiliated
with such a brave and dignified publisher
at this turbulent and exciting time, and I
look forward to developing new ways for
the Canadian publishing business to
thrive in the global literary culture.”
The Client:The Rights Factory, a literary agency that deals in intellectual property rights to entertainment products, including books, comics and graphic novels, film, television and video games.
The Challenge:
How can you help an ambitious literary agency compete for the best talent and
book deals in a fiercely competitive and often disrupted business environment?
The Result:
Our student worked directly with two authors on early drafts of their novels,
offering substantial editorial commentary; she also wrote and distributed a foreign
rights pitch to publishing houses in Holland and Germany and provided regular
feedback on various “slush-pile” manuscripts.
Student Testimonial
“Publishing is its own military-industrial
complex, filled with broken-hearted writers,
corporate buyouts, warehouses full of unsold
books, and hardworking people labouring
thanklessly on behalf of what they love.”
The Client:The Canadian Film Centre (CFC), a charitable organization committed to promoting and investing in Canada’s diverse talent, providing exhibition, financial, and distribution opportunities, and developing industry collaborations and creative partnerships.
The Challenge:
How do you help curators efficiently and smoothly coordinate the CFC’s Worldwide
Short Film Festival (WSFF), when over 500 delegates attend a six-day celebration of
275 films from 36 different countries?
The Result:
Our student acquired screening rights for 15 films from production companies
located across the world, managed the delegate information for over 500
delegates, supported the telecommunications of 50 staff members, and acted
as a lead at a reception.
Student Testimonial
“What I did at the WSFF was a trial-by-fire
entry into the film festival world. My
experiences there have already opened the
door to opportunities for me. Immediately
after completing my internship, I applied to
other jobs in the industry—and I am thrilled
to say that my orientation at my new job
is next week!”
The Client:The Literary Review of Canada (LRC) is the country’s leading forum for smart and provocative discussions and debate about books, culture, politics and ideas.
The Challenge:
The magazine wanted to know more about its readers, its writers, and what it has
historically covered. That way, it could plot a course forward that would extend its
traditional strengths and develop new areas of books and intellectual life in which
to direct its influential focus.
The Result:
Proceeding issue-by-issue from 2007, our student conducted a thorough
statistical analysis of the LRC’s content distribution, identifying trends and subject
areas for growth. She also proposed plans for targeted marketing campaigns
intended to expand the subscription base.
Student Testimonial
“Such institutions must be viewed
as profitable even though they do not
work for monetary profit, in that they
are generally advantageous and
beneficial to society as a whole.”
Faculty of ArtsEnglish Department Literatures of Modernity
Department of Englishryerson.ca/english
MA in Literatures of Modernityryerson.ca/graduate/literatures
Ryerson University, 350 Victoria StreetToronto, ON M5B 2K3 Canada