Controversy @ Noon 2025 – Writers Against AI
Wednesday, February 26th, 2025
12-1 PM MST
Online via Zoom
FREE
The AI debate is heating up and every day there are new questions about the ethical and environmental impacts of this technology, especially when it comes to literature and the written word. The time for hypothetical discussions is ending and it’s time to ask the stakeholders of the literary community like writers, booksellers, and readers about why and how we should reject this technology in our industry.
Register here.
The Panelists
Jason Lee Norman – Moderator
Jason Lee Norman is a writer from Edmonton. He edits Funicular Magazine and publishes Monto Books.
@bellyofawhale
Valerie Chelangat – Panelist
Valerie Chelangat is the founder of Tusome Books, an online Canadian bookstore that champions books by underrepresented authors, including 2SLGBTQ+, disabled and racialized writers. Since 2019, Valerie has combined her passion for storytelling and representation to curate a space where diverse voices are celebrated. With an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from The University of King’s College, Valerie is dedicated to promoting the power of literature to inspire change. When not running Tusome Books, she advocates for inclusion in publishing and works on her own writing projects.
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Tusome Books Instagram
Tusome Books LinkedIn
Tusome Books Facebook
Neal McDougall – Panelist
Neal McDougall is Assistant Executive Director at the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC). Since 2013, Neal has advocated for Canadian screenwriters in proceedings before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), federal Parliamentary committees, and with funding bodies and elected officials. Prior to that, Neal worked in policy and program development at the Canada Media Fund (CMF). He is a Board member of the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE), and his writing on topics from broadcasting policy to artificial intelligence has been published in tvo.org, Cartt, and the Toronto Star. Neal has worked as a professional screenwriter himself and was an award-winning student filmmaker. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from York University, where he studied film and video production.
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Twitter
WGC Instagram: @writers_guild_of_canada
WGC LinkedIn
WGC Bluesky: @writersguildcanada.bsky.social
David Gaertner – Panelist
David Gaertner is a settler scholar and an Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies. He writes, researches, and teaches new media, critical Indigenous studies; Indigenous literatures; contemporary Canadian literature, cultural theories of reconciliation, and speculative fiction. His most recent writing appears in Transmotion, Anglistica AION, and Future Horizons: Digital Humanities in Canada. He is the author of The Theatre of Regret: Literature, Art and the Politics of Reconciliation in Canada (UBC Press) and editor of Soykeyihta: The Poetry of Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe (WLUP).