To kick off library month join us at SAW Centre for an in-person paneled discussion about Intellectual Freedom with: Farzana Doctor winner of 2023 Freedom to Read Award, David A Robertson winner of 2021 Freedom to Read Award and Canadian journalist, activist, author, and broadcaster Desmond Cole, moderated by Adrian Harewood. This 90-minute discussion will help bring the term of Intellectual Freedom into focus to help us understand what it is and why it is of critical importance to us all.
Farzana Doctor is a writer, activist, and psychotherapist. Her ancestry is Indian, and she was born in Zambia while her family was based there for five years, before immigrating to Canada. She has also received the following awards for her writing and activism: 2021 Choice Award from Planned Parenthood; 2022 McMaster University Alumni Gallery Inductee; 2023 Freedom to Read Award from The Writers' Union of Canada. While all her books are distinct from one another, some common themes include loss, relationships, community, healing, racism, LGBT rights, diasporic identity and feminism. She seamlessly blends strong stories with social justice issues.
David Alexander Robertson is an Indigenous Canadian author, public speaker, and two-time winner of the Governor General's Literary Award. He is the author of numerous books for young readers including When We Were Alone, which won the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award and the McNally Robinson Best Book for Young People Award. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award as well as the Globe and Mail Children's Storyteller of the Year. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation
Desmond Cole is a Canadian journalist, activist, author, and broadcaster. His debut book, The Skin We’re In, won the Toronto Book Award and was a finalist for the Forest of Reading Evergreen Aawrd and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. It was also named best book of 2020 by The Globe and Mail, NOW Magazine, CBC, Quill & Quire, and Indigo. Living in Toronto, Ontario, Desmond Cole engages with his community in issues that include housing, homelessness, racial discrimination, civic engagement and social supports for youth.
Adrian Harewood is a Canadian television and radio journalist. He has been a journalist for over a quarter century, hosting CBC Ottawa’s drive home radio show All in a Day for 3 years and then the anchor of CBC Ottawa News at Six for 13 years. He was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Interviewer in 2017 and he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Local Anchor in 2020. Adrian also sits on the educational board of the University of Ottawa Press and is a board member of Journalists for Human Rights.
This event will also be streamed live on OPL's YouTube page: