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Trent University Announces 2007/2008 Ashley Fellow

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Renowned Canadian Book Publisher, Cynthia Good, to Share Career Experiences with Trent Community

Thursday, March 15, 2007, Peterborough

Trent University is pleased to announce that Cynthia Good, a highly respected Canadian book publisher and editor, has been appointed Ashley Fellow for the 2007/2008 academic year.

Nominated by the Department of English Literature and Catherine Parr Traill College, Ms. Good is the director of the Creative Book Publishing Program in the School of the Performing and Creative Arts at Humber College in Toronto.

Starting out as an actress at the age of seven, Ms. Good began her career in publishing while in the midst of her doctoral work in English at the University of Toronto. Hired by a small firm, Dorset Publishing, she learned the many aspects of the publishing business before moving on first to Doubleday Book Clubs as a marketing manager and then to Penguin Canada as editorial director in 1982. Once established at Penguin, she rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming editor-in-chief in 1987, publisher in 1990, and president in 1997. At Penguin she also originated the Penguin’s Canadian Program, which has grown into one of the most successful in Canada, boasting a list of premiere Canadian writers, including: Peter C. Newman, Michael Ignatieff, Denise Chong, Timothy Findley, Mordecai Richler, Robertson Davies, Alice Munro and John Ralston Saul.

Throughout her career, Ms. Good has also been involved in consulting for film companies and magazines like Walrus. She was a member of the first advisory board of the Canadian Centre for Publishing at Simon Frasier University, and has taught in both Ryerson University’s and Centennial College’s publishing certificate programs as well as for the Editors’ Association of Canada. In addition, she has lectured or been a guest speaker on a variety of cultural, literary and business subjects at many organizations, clubs, universities and colleges across Canada, including Trent.

In addition to several academic awards, Ms. Good has received the Arbor Awards from the University of Toronto for outstanding volunteer service, and an honorary degree from Mount Allison University.
While at Trent, Ms. Good will be meeting with students and members of the Trent and Peterborough communities to speak about aspects of publishing and cultural policy in Canada. She will also mentor Trent students in courses in Canadian literature and culture, and in Creative Writing, as well as providing an invaluable resource for English Department’s new Masters program in Public Texts.

About the Ashley Fellowship

The Ashley Fellowship is funded by a bequest from the late Professor C.A. Ashley, long-time friend of Trent University and an enthusiastic proponent of the role that informal contacts of college life can play in the academic pursuits of the University. The Ashley Fellows, therefore, are visiting scholars who reside at one of Trent's residential Colleges for part of the year, delivering lectures and meeting with faculty and students.

In the past, fellowships have been awarded to Dr. Timothy McGee, a recently retired University of Toronto professor, Dr. Randy Stoecker, a University of Toledo professor who focuses on community-based education, Tama Turanga Huata from Aotearoa, New Zealand, Dr. David Montgomery, a well-known historian of the American labour movement, and Dr. Peter Stephenson, an internationally-recognized senior medical anthropologist.

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For more information, please contact:
Professor Elizabeth Popham, chair, Department of English Literature, Trent University, (705) 748-1011 x1732; or
Professor Michael Peterman, principal, Catherine Parr Traill College, Trent University, (705) 748-1011 x1737 2