The WGA and Edmonton Arts Council present:
We Need to Talk About Crypto: NFTs and the Future of Literature in Canada
Wednesday, April 13. 6PM on Zoom
Please REGISTER in advance to gain access.
Recently the first ever novel sold as an NFT (Non Fungible Token) was made by former Edmontonian author Todd Babiak to Edmonton businessman Chris LaBossiere and then NFT was donated to the Edmonton Public Library. This ignited a fierce debate over the environmental impact of NFTs and the carbon footprint of the publishing industry.
So what do people in the literary community need to know about Crypto and NFTs and what exactly does the technological future of publishing in Canada look like?
Join stakeholders from the Edmonton literary community as we have a real discussion about what comes next.
Speakers include:
Matt Bowes – General Manager of NeWest Press
After receiving a degree in English Literature from the University of Alberta, Matt Bowes has worked in the publishing industry for fourteen years, first as a comic book store manager, then at NeWest Press starting in 2012. An avid film fan, he co-hosts Bollywood is For Lovers, a bi-weekly podcast on Hindi cinema. He has also presented two film series at Edmonton’s Metro Cinema Society, a monthly series comparing comic books and film called Graphic Content, and a retrospective on outlaw filmmaker Seijun Suzuki. His critical writing has appeared at The Pulp, Sequential Tart, and Luma Quarterly.
Anne Pasek – Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture and Environment -Trent University
Anne Pasek is the Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture and the Environment and an Assistant Professor cross-appointed between the Department of Cultural Studies and the School of the Environment. She studies the cultural politics of climate change, focusing in particular on how carbon becomes mediated and meaningful in different institutional and social contexts. As an energy humanist, she further investigates the connection between research methods, academic norms, and carbon intensity, developing and prototyping low-carbon alternatives for conducting research and sustaining collegial connections.