“Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.” Attributed to Virginia Woolf, this quote was used by Journalism and Creative Writing’s 2023 writer-in-residence Iryna Starovoyt to explore the role of journalists, artists and cultural creators in times of conflict. 

A collaboration between Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area and Durham College, the Journalism & Creative Writing program strives to offer students practical, hands-on skills backed by serious critical thinking skills, storytelling techniques, and an understanding of the role of journalism in modern society. The program is hosting its inaugural writer-in-residence, a role the coordinators feel exposes students to important perspectives and prepares them to think critically about impactful careers in writing. Dr. Ihor Junyk, professor of Cultural Studies and program coordinator of the Journalism & Creative Writing program at Trent Durham GTA, sat down to discuss the appointment of Ukrainian journalist, poet and academic Iryna Starovoyt as the program’s 2023 writer-in-residence. Read the interview below. 

What does the Writer-in-Residence (WIR) do? 

Our program has a very strong experiential component - students can take workshop courses at Trent where they do hands-on work, they work in a simulated newsroom at Durham College, and they do a co-op placement as a capstone experience in their fourth year of the program. To supplement this, we wanted to put students into contact with working professionals who could share their knowledge and experiences. The WIR position became an opportunity to connect students to writers and journalists in a more sustained way as an additional opportunity for learning and mentoring in the program.  

For the writer-in-residence, we agreed that we wanted something more than just a talented professional. We wanted to invite people who were deeply engaged with the critical issues of our time. As future journalists, creative writers, filmmakers, and more, our students will be grappling with these issues. We wanted to put them into contact with people who were doing this kind of work at the highest level. 

Why was Iryna Starovoyt chosen for the role? 

She is a cultural studies scholar, a poet, and a broadcaster with international accolades. She not only spoke to both the journalism and creative writing sides of the program, but was also deeply involved in the war in Ukraine. She was traveling internationally and speaking about the war. She was writing and broadcasting in Ukraine, not only about the war itself, but also about the future of the nation and asking people to think hopefully about the future and the kind of country they wanted to create. She had the moral seriousness and deep engagement with crucial contemporary issues that we see as a hallmark of this position.  

What is the role of these international academic partnerships in creating the discourse around significant world events like the war in Ukraine? 

The college and university experience does not end in the classroom. If students are relegated to memorizing history, the impact is lost, so helping them understand that history is unfolding as they learn allows students agency in their own learning. This is where transformation happens—in the retelling and framing. A partnership in recording or documenting the lived experience of significant world events like the war in Ukraine, or crucial contemporary issues, draws attention to the power of journalism, often called the first page of history, but also to storytelling as a way to think deeply about the human condition. 

What is the role of journalists during a time when many people record and share events happening around them on their phones?  

Contemporary technologies have given people unprecedented access to world events. This has been incredibly powerful. We can access images and reports of world historical events in real time - something that would have seemed like science fiction to previous generations. We can bypass censorship and challenge the propagandistic distortion of information. But there is a downside to the speed and accessibility of information as well. It comes to us without context, without analysis, without vetting. It can be hard to determine the meaning of the events we are looking at, or to sort truth from exaggeration and lies. Journalists continue to have an important role in this respect. They contextualize and analyze. They winnow fact from fiction and falsehood. 

What can students learn by watching these events as they unfold, and the actions of those closer to the conflict? 

One of the benefits of a more intimate view of war offered by the internet and social media, and something we wanted to accomplish by having Iryna speak about her experiences, is the personalization of war. War, and other major world events, can oftentimes feel very distant and abstract. It is one thing to hear of high level political or military maneuvers, and quite another to hear of everyday life from someone going through the conflict. This view from the inside allows us to imagine and empathize in a way that is very powerful. It is also easy to think of war as a distant reality that happens “over there,” to “people like that.” The view from the inside shows us that the people “over there” are just like us. They too lived normal lives that were turned upside down by a cataclysm that was unimaginable before it transpired.  

Iryna Starovoyt will host another writer-in-residence event in early spring that is open to students from Trent University and Durham College, as well as members of the public.  

Learn more about the Journalism and Creative Writing program at Trent Durham.