Using Your Voice: First Person Storytelling in Explanatory Journalism

After years of filing fast, 2-minute news reports across six Canadian provinces, award-winning CBC reporter Emily Brass was tasked with creating a longer form CBC podcast,Type Taboo: Diary of a New Diabetic, which follows her journey as she learns to cope with her own diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

In a series of audio diaries, Emily reveals her deepest feelings around type 2 diabetes, including the guilt and shame that comes with it, while also weaving vital threads around science, psychology, healthcare and social issues.

In this talk, Brass will dive into ways aspiring science communicators can use their curiosity and personal experiences to drive compelling stories, as well as an inside look into what's involved in creating a successful podcast.

It will take place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a reception afterwards, where light refreshments will be served. The event is free, but registration is required as spots are limited. 

Reserve by emailing: cristina.sanza@concordia.ca

This keynote address is part of Projected Futures, an international graduate science journalism summer school in the Department of Journalism. 

About the speaker

Emily Brass is currently the host of Information Morning on CBC Radio One in Saint John, New Brunswick. Before that, she worked as a national and local journalist for CBC in Manitoba, Montreal, Victoria, and St. John's. Emily also worked for CBC National News in Toronto and London, U.K. She is also host of the CBC podcast Type Taboo: Diary of a New Diabetic, which follows her journey coping with type 2 diabetes.

Brass graduated from the journalism program at Concordia University in 2012, where she was awarded the Joan Donaldson CBC News Scholarship, the Gordon Fisher Prize for Most Outstanding Journalism Graduate, the Science Writers & Communicators of Canada Emerging Journalist Award, and the Don McGillivray Prize in Explanatory Journalism.