Laura Kenins
I'm a journalist and comic artist.
I'm a writer based in Toronto, Canada, specializing in arts and culture. I've worked internationally in journalism, copywriting and editing and I'd love to discuss your project with you.
PROJECTS
Quill & Quire
Koyama Press gives celebrated Toronto artist Fiona Smyth her first retrospective collection
When Smyth began drawing comics as a student at the Ontario College of Art in the mid-1980s, it was “a very small scene, mostly male-dominated, of course, especially in Toronto with the holy triumvirate of Chester [Brown], Joe [Matt], and Seth.” From the beginning, Smyth balanced her comics with her work as a painter. “Even my earliest shows, I would make zines to sell. So I would have an art show but make a mini-zine to sell, because people might not be able to afford a painting, but they could afford a zine.”
Quill & Quire
Samantha Cutrara receives IBBY research grant to focus on how comics depict Canadian history
Samantha Cutrara, an historian, educator, and curriculum specialist at York University, has been awarded the 2018 Frances E. Russell Grant. The $1,000 grant is presented by the Canadian section of the International Board on Books for Young People. Cutrara will use the grant to continue her research into how Canadian history is portrayed in children’s graphic novels.
CBC
A composer and a comic book writer have reimagined Toronto and Montreal's hockey rivalry as an opera
Opera and comics might not seem like a natural pairing, but for creators Cecil Castellucci and André Ristic, it's an easy fit. The comic book writer and composer are both well-versed in cross-disciplinary projects, and Hockey Noir is their second comic-themed opera together, where Castellucci wrote the libretto and Ristic the music.
locallove.ca
5 ways to give back on your wedding day
Here’s how to spread the love on your big day—it’s as easy as saying, “I do”
The dress. The rings. The invitations. The D.J. The bouquets. The open bar. And that’s only the beginning (don’t even get us started on the bombonieres).The average Canadian wedding can set a couple back by $30,000—small wonder some couples are celebrating by giving back. Take the world’s most famous newlyweds Harry and Meghan, who asked guests to give to the charities they support in lieu of gifts.
“Weddings tend to...
Quill & Quire
Toronto’s Little Island Comics reopens
Just over a year after closing its former Mirvish Village location, Toronto children’s comic bookstore Little Island Comics has a new home. The kid-focused offshoot of the comic shop the Beguiling shut its doors at the end of 2016 when redevelopment of the Honest Ed’s site and the surrounding block began and both stores were forced out of their original locations.
CBC
Calgary's zine scene gives a home to those 'fed up with the city's corporate ethics'
The first edition of the Calgary Canzine fair is celebrating the city's flourishing small press community
CBC
Grilled Cheese (the magazine, not the sandwich) is dishing out bilingualism and good design to kids
Most anglophone children across Canada learn French at school with little immediate opportunity to use it, while francophone children frequently have the same experience with English. What's a kid to do? Enter Grilled Cheese magazine, a bilingual magazine that uses a host of French and English-speaking artists and writers to bring articles, games and activities to children nationwide in both official languages.
CBC
'Everyone is temporarily able-bodied': This Halifax exhibit brings together aging and disability
While the field of disability arts is growing, few curators and writers are talking about where it meets the concept of aging. Bodies in Translation: Aging and Creativity is an exhibition at Halifax's Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery that takes this intersection as a premise.
CBC
Want to learn how to draw? Here are 5 tips from a celebrated children's illustrator
Montreal illustrator Elise Gravel has illustrated dozens of children's books, but with her latest, the goal is to get other people to draw. If Found...Please Return To Elise Gravel offers a peek into Gravel's sketchbook full of monsters, animals, microbes and farting vegetables, with drawing prompts and tips for young illustrators.
hop-online.com
Chatbots for Student Recruiting? | Hop Online
You’ve already acquainted with Siri and Alexa in your personal life, but can a chatbot help your university’s admissions department? A future where AI chatbots help admissions professionals with student recruitment may seem like a far-off sci-fi tale, but on a small scale, it’s already happening. What do you need to know about how chatbots can assist in your recruitment process? (Ghostwriter)
CBC
Halifax is magic: How this project is increasing visibility for black and queer artists on the East Coast
With headlines lately looking downright apocalyptic, particularly for anyone of any minority, "magic" might not be the first word on your mind. But for Halifax's The Magic Project, this is not the time to stagnate. Formed by partners Kate Macdonald and Emma Paulson, The Magic Project is looking to increase the visibility of black and queer people and voices through photography and art.
"The Magic Project was spun out of Donald Trump being elected," Macdonald says. "There was this k...
CBC
This New Brunswick town was literally haunted by the radio
New documentary chronicles the bizarre effects of Sackville's radio towers
The Coast
The state of the art of Nova Scotia
With the first contemporary Nova Scotia survey exhibition Terroir, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia takes an ambitious look at today’s province.
CBC
Gay and night: Putting Toronto's queer nightlife back in shadows — shadow puppetry, that is
The early history of public gay life doesn't often come to light, but Toronto filmmakers MidKnife Films are bringing some of this history out of the shadows — through shadow puppet animation. The series of three short films, exploring the history of gay and lesbian nightlife in Toronto between the 1950s and 1970s, will screen at the Glad Day Bookshop as part of Myseum Intersections festival.
Quill & Quire
Julie Doucet may have abandoned comics, but she still has plenty to say | Quill and Quire
Julie Doucet is done with autobiography.