Education
- 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.
Industry Publications
- 2021. “Future uncertain for accessible book providers CELA, NNELS after ‘one-year reprieve’ from total funding cuts.” Quill and Quire online.
- 2021. “Indie publishers voice concerns about Bertelsmann’s pending acquisition of Simon & Schuster.” Quill and Quire March print issue and online.
- 2020. “How the Aurora Awards help foster Canada’s sci-fi community and fan culture.” Quill and Quire online.
Manuscripts in Progress
- 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
- 2016–present Editors’ Association of Canada
- 2016–19 West Coast Science Fiction Association