Curating
Story
Curating the Story Museum's Team:
Dr. Naomi Hamer
Principal Investigator
Dr. Naomi Hamer is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Toronto Metropolitan University. She holds a PhD (2011) in children’s literature and media from the Institute of Education, University College London (UK), an MA in Children’s Literature from the University of British Columbia (2004), and a BA (2000) in English Literature and Humanistic Studies from McGill University. Her current research and publications examine the cross-media adaptation of children's literature with a focus on picture books, mobile apps, and children’s museums. She is the co-editor of More Words About Pictures: Current Research on Picture Books and Visual/Verbal Texts for Young People (eds. Hamer, Nodelman and Reimer, 2017), and The Routledge Companion of Fairy-tale Cultures and Media (eds. Greenhill, Rudy, Hamer, and Bosc, 2018). She was also the President of the Association for Research in the Cultures of Young People (ARCYP).
Dr. Ann Marie F. Murnaghan is an Assistant Professor in the Children, Childhood, and Youth Program, in the Department of Humanities at York University in Toronto. She received a Bachelor of Science from Queen's University, a Master's in Environmental Studies and Doctorate in Geography from York University, Toronto. She researches and teaches about urban and children's geographies, and her most recent academic activities have been focusing on the role of museum education for children in the past and currently in story museums. In 2016, along with Dr. L.J. Shillington, she edited the collection, Children, Nature, Cities that explores how children negotiate urban life through 11 case studies across the globe. In her spare time she loves to watch movies, explore cities, and thrift shop.
Dr. Ann Marie Murnaghan
Co-Investigator
Liu Chia Wei
Born in Trinidad and Tobago, I came to Canada and attended Ryerson University in 2013. I started my initial University career in Geographic Analysis but switched to English thanks to my passion for stories and digital literature such as video game and hyperlink stories. My research interests are that of digital humanities, children's literature, translation literature, food studies and International Student works. I mainly operate and manage the website for Curating the Story Museum and I will be going to Japan in May for a major research paper.
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Elizabeth Theroux
Lizzy completed her undergraduate degree in French Literature at the University of Victoria, and after graduating she returned to Ontario to become a licenced paralegal. While she enjoyed working in the legal field, she wanted to return to school to continue studying literature. Lizzy was a student in the LitMod program at Ryerson. and assisted the project's ethics and research portions of the Curating the Story Museum project.
Quentin Stuckey
Quentin Stuckey started this project in his third year studying English at Ryerson University while pursuing a minor in Radio & Television Arts. His past extra curricular activities at the university include positions on the English Course Union and the Ryerson Liberal Arts Society. Originally from the town of Alliston, Ontario, he has written plays, poetry and contributed articles to online publications including The Plaid Zebra, Highly Sensitive Refuge and TalentEgg. Quentin hopes to pursue a career in television writing and in academia with research focusing on areas including modern literature, Hitchcockian cinema, critical theory and media studies. He is particularly interested in the power of narrative to encourage critical change both on the individual and societal level. He considers himself extremely lucky to be serving as an undergraduate research assistant on Curating The Story Museum as it is a new learning experience for him. In his spare time, Quentin enjoys reading, journaling, running, listening to people’s thoughts, cooking and meditating.
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Website: https://www.quentinstuckey.ca/
Helena Wright
Helena Wright began this project as a third-year student doing her undergraduate degree, majoring in English and Philosophy at Ryerson University. She also completed a minor in sociology and has an appreciation for social phenomena, gender and diversity studies and humanitarian socio-philosophical frameworks. She was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario and has five years of previous work experience teaching children. Her previous employment has taken her to most sub-cultural pockets of Toronto, developing her interest in children’s discourse and its cultural reflections. In this project, she gathered information and data on recent children's exhibitions and projects, that took place in a variety of institutions such as museums, art galleries, and science centers. In particular, the topics surrounding children’s literature, but more broadly other multitudes of interests related to child identity. She also inquired into the technological sphere of children’s engagement through apps and interactive media such as online games. She is personally interested in non-fiction and cultural narratives, her favorite book is Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. Additionally, she also really enjoy living a healthy lifestyle and some of her hobbies include swimming, running and cooking.
Dana Mitchell
Dana Mitchell is a member of the Literatures of Modernity Master’s program at Ryerson University. She previously attended Queen’s University where she completed her Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in English Literature, and the University of Manchester where she took part in a six month exchange program. Among her research interests include Romantic literature, gender and sentiment, and ecocriticism. Dana enjoys reading, travelling, and writing, and has contributed work to various publications including Shameless Magazine and the Queen’s Gazette. She is very excited to be a part of the Curating the Story Museum team and to learn more about child and youth studies. After graduation, Dana hopes to pursue her PhD in England.
Paris Salmon-Wright
Paris Salmon-Wright is currently in her final year studying English at Ryerson University while completing a minor in Sociology. During her time at Ryerson, she has been able to work at The Continuist as an editor and contributor, was an executive member of the Ryerson Writer’s Collective, as well as presented her personal research at the ARTeries Undergraduate Research Conference. In addition to pursuing her love of academia, for the past two years she has been the lead fiction editor for White Wall Review. Her research interests include women’s studies, digital humanities, children’s literature, and modern literature. In her spare time, Paris can be found in a pilates class or knitting while watching reruns of old sitcoms.
Loraine Illeperuma
Loraine Illeperuma is a fourth-year English Literature student finishing up her undergraduate degree at Ryerson University with a minor in Psychology. During her free time, she coordinates events for Ryerson's White Wall Review literary journal and volunteers with high school English teachers. Loraine hopes to be a high school English and Social Sciences teacher and has recently applied to teacher's college programs. As a future educator, she has worked in many positions where she has taught students. One particular position is when Loraine worked at a local museum in Markham, teaching kids and adults the history of the city and its surrounding areas. This job is why she was inspired to work as an undergraduate research assistant on Curating The Story Museum with Professor Hamer and Murnaghan. Loraine believes that Mueusums are a beneficial place for children to learn a vast amount of information. Finding new ways to teach that information is why she wanted to be a part of this fantastic research.
Sabrina Pavelic
Sabrina Pavelic is a current student in Ryerson’s master’s in Literatures of Modernity program and is set to graduate in September 2021. Her background is in writing and editing for both online and print publications. She graduated with an Honours BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Western Ontario with a minor in History. Since then, she has worked for online magazines like View the VIBE and Swagger Magazine as well as writing news snippets for elevator and lobby screens as a Bilingual Editor. Her most recent internship was completed at Nimbus Publishing & Vagrant Press in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Sabrina’s research interests include the intersection between children’s literature and culture as well as politics, as viewed alongside historical and cultural contexts. In her spare time, you can find her reading or getting in her daily dose of physical activity—preferably outside and in the sunshine.
Felipe Castaneda Gamboa
Felipe Castaneda Gamboa was a Masters student at TMU. They helped produce animations for the engagement projects highlighting urban spaces and picture books.
Candace Gunn
Candace Gunn worked on this project during her MA in the LitMod program at TMU. She completed her BA at the University of Toronto. The Curating the Story Museum project combines her interests in education, literacy, and English literature. Candace's research interests include Victorian literature and children's literature. In her spare time, she can often be found listening to music, cycling, or browsing for cookbooks (even though she finds most of her recipes via the internet search bar).
