This year, we are honoured to welcome two members of our New Brunswick community to join our conference as our guest keynote speakers!
Julia Wright
Julia Wright is the host of CBC Information Morning in Saint John, N.B.
Julia is a born-and-raised Saint Johner who received her BA at UNB Fredericton, followed by a Masters in English at McGill University in Montreal.
She started working at CBC New Brunswick in 2016 as a newsreader, then went on to become a reporter for CBC New Brunswick’s digital platforms before accepting the host position with Information Morning in 2019.
Before she joined the public broadcaster, Julia was a columnist for Vice and the Saint John Telegraph-Journal, and an associate editor at Civilized.
Earlier, she founded and edited two independent publications that showcased Saint John stories, characters and creators: Hard Times in the Maritimes and The Tempest.
In addition to her fondness for Saint John, she loves photography, microfilm, running and sushi.
You can follow her on Twitter @thewrightpage.
Thandiwe McCarthy
Thandiwe McCarthy is a passionate and dedicated member of the Black New Brunswick community, recently recognized as one of CBC’s 20 Black Changemakers in Atlantic Canada.
As a 7th generation African Canadian, Thandiwe combines his passion for social justice with his artistic talents as a writer, spoken word poet, and community advocate. Through his writing and activism, he has published essays in The Maritime EDIT Magazine, Africanthology, and helped republish the history book, “The Blacks of New Brunswick.”
Thandiwe’s work has been recognized and honored by the Premier of New Brunswick for his efforts in advocating for the recognition of August 1st as Emancipation Day. He is the co-founder of the New Brunswick Black Artists Alliance, and organizer for the New Brunswick Emancipation Celebration event.
Thandiwe is dedicated to promoting love, respect, and wellness for all, and his memoir, “Social Oblivion: Raised Black in Canada” is now available.
