2020–present Ph.D. Faculty of Information and Book History and Print Culture Dissertation in progress: “Innovation of Book Formats and Accessible Production in Canadian Indie Publishing” University of Toronto Supervisor: Dr Alan Galey Committee members: Dr Claire Battershill and Dr Patrick Keilty
2017–19 Master of Publishing Thesis: “Launching Constellate Publishing: An Evaluation of Small Press Genre Fiction Publishing in Canada” Simon Fraser University Supervisor: Dr John Maxwell
2016–17 Editing Certificate Simon Fraser University
2015–16 Bachelor of Arts, English with a minor in publishing Simon Fraser University
2011–14 Associate of Arts, English Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Publications
sole author unless otherwise stated; prior to 2021 as Ellen Michelle
Book Chapters
2021. “Canada’s Fantasy Worlds: Worldbuilding in Urban Fantasy.” Worlds Apart: Worldbuilding in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Ed. Francesca T Barbini. Luna Press Publishing.
Under contract. “Memos from the Novel’s Author: The Adaptation of FlashForward for Television as a Series of Foucauldian Mirrors.” American Science Fiction Television and Space: Productions and (Re)configurations. Eds. Hawkes, Joel, Alexander Christie, and Thomas Nienhuis. Palgrave Macmillan.
In press. Galey, Alan, Ellen Forget, and Charu Sharma. “Reading Fictional Worlds of Technology with Ursula Franklin: Fail-Safe and Constructed Realities.” What Would Ursula Franklin Say, McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology Working Group.
In submission. Galey, Alan and Ellen Forget. “Reading the Materiality of Videogames Through Fan Documentation.” [NOT] The Game: Understanding Game Paratexts. Book chapter abstract accepted.
Conference Presentations
sole author unless otherwise stated; prior to 2021 as Ellen Michelle
2021. Forget, Ellen and Selena Middleton. “The Rise of Environmental Science Fiction and the Risks of Sustainable Small Press Production.” Independent Publishing Conference, online. November 25–27.
2021. “The Book as a Bridge: Examining Gender Roles in Book Publishing in Genius.” Books on Screen Symposium, online. November 3.
2021. “Accessibility in Digital Book Fomats: The Case of Amanda Leduc’s Disfigured.” Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) Moving Texts, online. July 26–30.
2021. “Canadian Literary Festivals: Creating Community in Speculative Fiction Publishing.” Bibliographical Society of Canada Annual Conference, online. May 31–June 1.
2021. “Accessibility in Digital Book Formats: The Case of Amanda Leduc’s Disfigured.” University of Toronto iSchool Research Days, online. April 8.
2021. “Accessibility in Canadian Indie Trade Publishing.” University of Toronto Book History and Print Culture Colloquium, online. March 5–6.
2018. “Discussion of Forensic and Formal Materiality in Book Publishing.” Digital Museum Exhibit. Student Digital Showcase, Simon Fraser University and University of Victoria.
2016. “The Process of Publishing Craft.” Simon Fraser University FCAT Undergraduate Conference.
Roundtables Organized
2018. “Editing Education Options in Canada.” Editors Association of Canada Annual Conference, Saskatoon. May 25–27.
Digital Projects
2021–present Canadian Speculative Fiction Database
develop a database built with Drupal of small-press, independent, and self-published speculative fiction books in Canada
connect with publishers, authors, and artists working with speculative fiction genres to collect their data for inclusion in the project
built an interactive timeline of speculative fiction publishing in Canada using Twine
2018 Exhibit of Forensic and Formal Materiality in Book Publishing
developed a virtual museum exhibit in Unity video game software
showcased an issue of The Winter Owl magazine from 1919 and included bibliographic description of materiality of form and format
Employment
Publishing Industry
2019–present Copy and production editor for Pop! an annual open-access academic journal
2016–present Freelance editor and writing consultant
2019–20 Sales assistant at Raincoast Books Distribution Ltd.
2018–19 Publisher at Constellate Publishing, speculative fiction e-zine
2017–19 Book reviewer at Scribbles, Quibbles, and Scrawlings Review Blog
2016–19 Sales representative at Myth Hawker Travelling Bookstore
2016–18 Managing editor at Reality Skimming Press
2016 Editorial intern at Now or Never Publishing
2016 Editorial intern at Western Living Magazine
Teaching Assistantships
2018–20 Simon Fraser University PUB101 Publishing the Self in Everyday Life (F18, Spr19) PUB375 Magazine Publishing (F18, Spr19, Spr20) IAT103W Design Communication and Collaboration (Sum19)
Invited Lectures and Class Visits
2019–21 Editing in Another World: Editing Speculative Fiction Genres Simon Fraser University PUB601 Editing (F19, F20, F21)
2021 Coach House Books and Publishing Today University of Toronto INF2331H The Future of the Book (W21)
Webinars
2021 Editing in Another World: Editing Speculative Fiction Genres Editors’ Association of Canada
Research
2021–present Research assistant for Dr Dan Newman’s SSHRC Insight Grant-funded Science Narratology project University of Toronto, English Department
2020–present Research assistant for Dr Alan Galey’s SSHRC-funded Veil of Code project University of Toronto, Faculty of Information
2018–19 Research assistant for Dr John Maxwell’s Mind the Gap project Simon Fraser University, Publishing Department
2016–17 Research assistant for Dr Margaret Linley’s Lake District project Simon Fraser University, English Department
Service
Service to the University
2021–present Mentor for the Faculty of Information student mentorship program
2021–present Secretary for the Faculty of Information Doctoral Student Association (DSA)
2021–present Co-founder of the DSA Accessibility Committee
2021–present Member of the Faculty of Information Research Days Conference Planning Committee
2021–present PhD student representative for the Progams Committee
2020–present Member of the DSA Mental Health Committee
Service to the Profession(s)
2021–present Editor of The Bulletin for the Bibliographical Society of Canada
2018–20 Co-chair of the Professional Development Committee on the Executive Committee of the British Columbia branch of Editors’ Association of Canada
2017–19 Marketing Coordinator for West Coast Science Fiction Association
2017–18 Project manager and editor for the fundraiser anthology for West Coast Science Fiction Association
2016–18 Member of the Professional Development Committee of the British Columbia branch of Editors’ Association of Canada
2016–Volunteer at the Editors’ Association of Canada conference
Service to the Community
2021–present Coach for the Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey Association
2016 Blue pencil editor for the community program between Editors’ Association of Canada and Vancouver Public Library
2015–16 National correspondent for MidgetAAACanada.com
2015 Literary volunteer for The Writers’ Exchange
Independent Coursework
University of Toronto iSkills Workshops
2021 Python 102: Building on the basics
2021 Introduction to reproducible analyses and documents with R Markdown
2021 Reading technologys for people with print disabilities
2021 R: An introduction
2020 Visually communicating your research: Graphic tools and visual storytelling techniques for researchers
2020 A taste of Python: Starting from scratch
2020 A gentle dive into Git: The multi tool for saving, storing, publishing and sharing your work
2020 Indigenous materials & perspectives in library collections
Editors' Association of Canada Seminars
2019 Plain Language From Start to Finish
2018 Skilful Structural Editing
2018 From Slush Pile to Newsstand: Workshopping the Magazine Workflow
2017 The Secrets of Syntax
2016 Tax and Finance for Freelancers
2016 The Art of the Query
2016 Introduction to Applying Proofreading Markup to PDFs Using Adobe Acrobat
Digital Humanities Summer Institute, UVic
2019 Digital Games as Tools for Scholarly Research, Communication, and Pedagogy
2018 Digital Storytelling
2018 Digital Publishing in the Humanities
2017 Text and Text Processing
Other Independent Coursework
2021 Introduction to Text Encoding Library Juice Academy
2021 Reading Publishers’ Archives for the Study of the American Book Rare Book School
2021 Fantastic Texts and Where to Find Them University of Glasgow
2019 French Beginner I University of British Columbia
2015 Book Editing Immersion Simon Fraser University Publishing Workshops
2015 Copy Editing and Proofreading Simon Fraser University Publishing Workshops
Memberships
2021–present Bibliographic Society of America
2021–present Bibliographic Society of Canada
2021–present Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing