Dr. Lauren Kirshner

Biography:

Lauren Kirshner's creative work, research, and community-based projects explore how women experience gender, sexuality, mental health, work, and family across diverse storytelling forms. Her writing (external link)  spans fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, and memoir.

Her coming-of-age novel, Where We Have to Go (external link)  (M&S), was a finalist for the City of Toronto Book Award. Described by The Globe and Mail as "a very strong original debut (external link) " and translated into Dutch and German, the novel also earned her the title of "Toronto’s Best Emerging Author" from NOW magazine.

Her latest book, Sex Work in Popular Culture (external link)  (UTP), examines the provocative movies, TV shows, and documentaries about sex work produced in the last decade—a period of debate and change around the meaning of sex work in North American society. From Oscar-winning films to viral YouTube videos, documentaries to hit series, the book draws on labour and feminist theory, film history, news, activism, and interviews to reveal how popular culture is showing the world’s oldest profession in a new light—particularly through the eyes of women creators and performers. The book was featured on CBC (external link)  and in Jacobin (external link) , and received a 2025 Honourable Mention for the Popular Culture Association's prestigious Ray and Pat Browne Book Award.   

Her writing has appeared in widely in popular publications across North America, including Hazlitt (external link) , ELLE (external link) , The Malahat Review, THIS, The Globe and Mail, PRISM, and Room. Her non-fiction work, “ (PDF file) Twenty Poems about Claudia (external link) ,” on the maquiladora workers of Juarez, Mexico, appeared in the paper documentary I Live Here. One of her earliest published works was a NOW magazine with the the late great Clash guitarist and singer Joe Strummer.

Dr. Kirshner received her PhD from the Joint Program in Communication & Culture at York-Ryerson Unversity and has an MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing from the University of Toronto, where she was mentored by Margaret Atwood.

Beyond her creative work, Dr. Kirshner is a community arts leader whose projects focus on arts for social justice. She is the Founding Director of Sister Writes (external link) , an intersectional creative writing and publishing program that strives to empower women through creative writing workshops, (external link)  mentorship with acclaimed Canadian writers, public arts events (external link) , multimedia (external link)  and literary magazines. Praised by The Star (external link) , CBC (external link) , and The Huffington Post, Sister Writes was recognized in 2018 with an Arts Bridges Award for Remarkable Acheivement in Community Arts.

Her other initiatives have included an intergenerational oral history intiative, a writing program for young mothers (external link)  at The June Callwood Centre, and her Young Authors Project was a finalist for the Ontario Minister’s Award for Innovation in the Arts. In the community, she has facilitated over 200 workshops and partnered with organizations such as The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Public Library, and Luminato. Her community programs have received broad support, and she is co-investigator of of the SSHRC-funded Crafting Community Collective. 

Her dedication to teaching and service has been recognized with the New Faculty Teaching Award (2020) and the Dean's Service Award (2024). She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in creative writing and mentors students through White Wall Review (external link) .