Erin Piotrowski is an educator and researcher with a passion for storytelling and media literacy. She is currently completing a PhD (English) at the University of Toronto, where she studies the impact of media technologies on Victorian literature and culture.
Erin works as a course instructor and lecturer at the University of Toronto, and as a communications coach for SV Academy, an EdTech start-up that aims to help 1 million women, minorities, and under-privileged Americans land high-paying jobs in tech. In her spare time, Erin spreads her love for storytelling by narrating and producing independent audiobooks. You can find her first audiobook, Poltergeist, on Audible, iTunes, and wherever audiobooks are sold.
My SmallTalks
Networking: Bodies and Machines in Victorian Culture
The electric telegraph, sometimes referred to as “the Victorian Internet,” forever changed human communication. For the first time in history, communication systems were no longer dependent on existing transportation networks: people could instantaneously communicate with one another over vast distances. In this SmallTalk, we will explore how Victorian writers, scientists, and philosophers looked to electronic communications networks to explain our bodies, our neighbours, and our world. In doing so, they transformed the way we think, especially the way we think about ourselves.
Is Literature Dying in the Digital Age?
If “the medium is the message,” as Marshall McLuhan famously quipped, what happens to literature when text moves from page to screen? In this SmallTalk, we will consider how computing devices are transforming traditional print-based reading practices, and we will explore emerging “born-digital” forms of storytelling such as hypertext, interactive fiction, flash poetry, and video games. We will end by turning to Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit From the Goon Squad, a print novel about the digital world.
Detective Fiction: Then and Now (Series)
Why is detective fiction such an enduring cultural form? What does our veneration of the detective-hero—typically an eccentric yet powerful “outsider”—say about us as a culture?
- The Origins of Detective Fiction (e.g., Poe, Sherlock Holmes)
- The Golden Age and Beyond (e.g., Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler)
- The Detective Hero (modern-day detective literature)
Custom SmallTalks
Please contact me if I can develop an interesting educational experience for you and your guests in one of my areas of expertise:
- Victorian literature and culture
- Media studies and media literacy
- The history of science and technology
- The future of the book
Where I Can Go:
Southern Ontario, from London to Ottawa.
Availability:
Generally available daily, September-June; let’s discuss!
Languages:
My SmallTalks will be delivered in English.
Fees:
My SmallTalks usually last 45 minutes, followed by up to 45 minutes of discussion. I will provide suggested pre- and post-reading for your group. Fee: $300