2016-2017 Guest Speakers

Trinity College School is committed to inviting varied and interesting guest speakers to address the School community. Our guest speakers present to our community during a variety of TCS events such as the Mac Campbell Lecture Series, subject specific lectures and other special occasions such as Scholars' Evening.

Edward Burtynsky
Date: Monday, April 24, 2017 - 1:30pm
Location: Cirne Commons
Event: Centennial Lecture

A world-renowned photographer, Edward Burtynsky creates stunning photos – “reflecting pools of our time” – that explore large-scale social, political and economic issues, including water, oil and the upheaval caused by rapid industrialization. On stage, he talks about the connection between art and social change, human nature and consumption, and industry and environment.

Mr. Burtynsky’s remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes are included in the collections of over 50 major museums around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His work is the subject of the award-winning documentaries Watermark and Manufactured Landscapes, both directed by Jennifer Baichwal. Watermark was awarded the $100,000 Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association. His exhibitions, which have all been published as books, include Residual Landscapes, Manufactured Landscapes, Before the Flood, China, Quarries, Australian Minescapes, Oil, and Water.

Mr. Burtynsky’s photos explore the complicated link between industry and nature, combining the raw elements of mining, quarrying, manufacturing, shipping, oil production and recycling into highly expressive visions that find beauty and humanity in the most unlikely of places.

Mr. Burtynsky is the founder of Toronto Image Works, a custom photo laboratory, digital imaging and new media centre catering to all levels of Toronto’s art community. He has spoken widely, including at the Library of Congress in Washington, and at TED. In fact, he was one of the first recipients of the TED Prize. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and was named one of Canada’s Greatest Explorers by Canadian Geographic. On March 7, 2016 he was announced as a recipient of the 2016 Governor General’s Visual & Media Arts Award. Along with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography festival, Mr. Burtynsky announced the creation of The Burtynsky Grant, a $5,000 prize awarded to a Canadian photographic artist to support the publication of his/her photography book (his $25,000 GG award was donated in support).

Shane Koyczan
Date: Thursday, January 19, 2017 - 1:00pm to Friday, January 20, 2017 - 12:59pm
Location: Dick and Jane LeVan Theatre
Event: Mac Campbell Lecture Series

In a realm where poets rarely intersect with stardom, the Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics introduced us to Shane Koyczan. With a collective “wow” across Canada and beyond, we found the poet of our generation. And we weren’t even looking for one. The world took notice when Shane’s influential, anti-bullying, To This Day Project video went viral in early 2013 with over 14 million views and counting. Powerfully engaging and authentic in attitude, his explorations are relevant to our times in the way that Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Downie and Leonard Cohen are to theirs. But unlike the musicians that he’s often compared to, poets rarely infiltrate pop culture. Shane emerges in a new wave of 21st century poetry that dares to belong to the people and speak directly to them in their own voice.

Shane Koyczan is not only a writer and spoken word virtuoso, but also a multi medium spoken word artist. His first published collection, Visiting Hours, was the only work of poetry selected by both the Guardian and the Globe and Mail for their Best Books of the Year lists in 2005. Destined to become a future classic, Visiting Hours is now in its third edition, and includes We Are More. Shane followed up on the success of Visiting Hours with Stickboy, a novel in verse that chronicles the dark and lonely journey of a bullied child gripped by helpless rage. He shines a light into the bleak world behind some of the most incomprehensible acts in our culture, and also shows the healing power of love. Written for anyone who has ever been a child, Stickboy continues to be hailed by teachers, academics and mental health experts alike for its deft handling of the subject of bullying.

Shane returned to his roots with a collection of poetry titled Our Deathbeds will be Thirsty, which was released in 2012. This book features the piece, To This Day, a poem about bullying that was made into a video by collaborating animators. That video, released in 2013, quickly received worldwide recognition by going viral on Youtube, receiving over a million views in a matter of days. It was released as a project to acknowledge and support national Anti-Bullying Day. Since the video’s release Shane has presented at TED Talks, where the audience leapt to their feet in applause. Sir Ken Robinson has listed that talk as one of his top 10 talks on education. That TED Talk led to Shane collaborating with TED-ED to create a classroom tool that provides teachers a way to discuss anti-bullying with students. This extraordinary work has been adapted into an equally moving and visually arresting book. Thirty international artists, as diverse as they are talented, were inspired to create exceptional art to accompany To This Day.

In September 2014, Shane’s highly anticipated release, Silence Is A Song I Know All The Words To was his first graphic novel. Encapsulating incredible imagery illustrated by Gareth Gaudin, Shane once again covered many beautiful and though provoking pieces relevant to our time. The graphic novel is accompanied by a collection of songs of the poems featured in the novel, an astonishing musical collaboration with Cayne McKenzie of We Are The City and Hannah Epperson.

Shane took us from the page and further displayed his talents as a multi medium spoken work artist in his latest collaboration, with the Vancouver Opera on his novel in verse, Stickboy. Shane took on a new challenge as a first time librettist as he transformed his work into the operatic drama, which premiered at Vancouver’s Playhouse Theatre in October 2014.

Shane, however, is best known for his award winning spoken word performances. With his rhythmic verse in high gear, he navigates his audience through social and political territory with a furious honesty and a tender humanity that has brought audiences to their feet in New York, London, Edinburgh, Sydney, Stockholm and Los Angeles, to name a few. He has received five-star reviews for his performances around the globe. Winner of the US Slam Poetry Championship and the Canadian Spoken Word Olympics, Shane is truly an extraordinary talent that has blown the dust off of the traditional designation “poet.”

Morgan Wienberg
Date: Friday, December 9, 2016 - 1:20pm
Location: Dick and Jane LeVan Theatre
Event: Week Without Walls

Raised in Canada’s far northern city of Whitehorse, Yukon, throughout her youth, Morgan volunteered with non-profit organizations and developed an all-consuming interest in human rights. In 2010, six months after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, this high school valedictorian traded her snow boots for sandals and set off for the devastated country. What was meant to be a short trip changed her life – and countless others – forever.

Morgan volunteered in an orphanage and found the conditions to be appalling. She witnessed children who were neglected, beaten and starved. In some cases, children were used as slaves or sold, as if they were property. Although it was sorely needed, the children were denied medical attention. Morgan discovered that children had been sent to the orphanage by their parents in the mistaken belief that their children would be offered food, education and loving care. Morgan began to work towards reuniting children with their families.

In 2011, Morgan co-founded Little Footprints, Big Steps (LFBS). Morgan continues to live in Haiti, leading the organization with integrity, creativity and perseverance. Forging partnerships and collaborations with other non-profits and with the Haitian government; spearheading initiatives and piloting programs; hiring and guiding Haitian staff; managing the program administration; tirelessly pouring love and encouragement into all of the children and families that come her way.

She is an honoured recipient of the Meritorious Service Cross Medal, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, Governor General of Canada Academic Awards, Yukon Commissioner Award, recognized in Washington, DC as a finalist for the Berger-Marks Foundation for Young Women Impacting Social Justice and was awarded the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship Award for Humanitarian Impact. She was a keynote speaker at the 2013 United Nations Youth Assembly. Her work and spirit inspire men, women and children all around the world.

Julie Lythcott-Haims
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 - 7:00pm to Wednesday, September 28, 2016 - 6:59pm
Location: Dick and Jane LeVan Theatre
Event: Special Presentation

Julie Lythcott-Haims spent a decade as Stanford University’s Dean of Freshmen where she was known for both her fierce advocacy for students and her equally fierce critique of the growing trend of parental involvement in the day-to-day lives of college students. Almost 20,000 undergraduates matriculated on her watch, and in 2010 she received the university’s Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for creating the atmosphere that defines the undergraduate experience at Stanford. To her students she was affectionately known as “Dean Julie.”

Toward the end of her tenure she began speaking and writing widely on the phenomenon of helicopter parenting. Her New York Times best-selling book How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success was released in June 2015 and is being translated into several languages for publication in other countries. Her work has also appeared on TEDx talks, as well as in the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, New York Times, Slate and Time. She hosts the podcast “Getting In,” produced by Slate/Panoply, which offers students and parents sound advice about the college application process and serves as an antidote to the college admission “arms race” mentality. Her numerous media appearances include NPR, the Today show, CBS This Morning and Good Morning America. She also spoke at the first-ever TED Talks Live event held in Manhattan in the fall of 2015.

In addition to non-fiction, Julie writes poetry and creative non-fiction. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, and since leaving Stanford in 2012 she has been pursuing an M.F.A. in creative writing at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She lives in Silicon Valley with her partner of over 25 years, their two teenagers, and her mother.

She is deeply interested in humans living lives of meaning and purpose, and in the obstacles that can get in the way, and enjoys working with humans of all ages interested in finding their authentic self and honouring what they hear. After years of public speaking as a dean, community volunteer and litigator, she is an engaging, inspiring speaker who takes pleasure in working with her audiences.