Prior to working at Canopy, Laura worked in book publishing for nearly 18 years; briefly at Macmillan Canada, at General Publishing, and most recently as Publicity Director at House of Anansi Press. Laura has a BA in Theatre from York University, and studied Book and Magazine Publishing at Centennial College.

More about me:

My career so far has been in book publishing, first very briefly with McMillan Canada, then General Publishing, and most recently as Publicity Director at House of Anansi. Over the years I had the pleasure of working with authors like Will Self, Lisa Moore, Margaret Atwood, Ronald Wright, Stephen Lewis, Wade Davis, A.L. Kennedy, Simon Armitage, Rawi Hage, Kathleen Winter, Lawrence Hill, and Deborah Ellis, to name just a few.

Why forests are important to me:

Forests are important to me personally as places of respite, and of admirable beauty. I respect their important role in our greater ecosystem, and see them as a living connection to our past. As a life-long city-dweller, I have a bit of an obsession with green space and I value it immensely, and I feel fortunate that I live in a neighbourhood in Toronto where I am surrounded by trees.

Why Canopy:

I love the idea of having a job that I can feel good about, that puts me on the side of trying to do good in the world. And I deeply admire ingenuity, which Canopy demonstrates with their solutions-based, positive approach to preserving ancient forests.

Ask me about:

Books, movies, UK television shows, comics, or funny things my son says to me. I love stories. It is possible that I’m obsessed with stories.

Something that absolutely ruffles my feathers:

Short-sightedness. Being confronted with short-sightedness on any front confounds and upsets me, and the notion of action that will cause catastrophic harm in the long run being sold as opportunity or solution — well, my blood pressure is going up even as I type this.