Lauren Kirshner

Dr. Kirshner is an Associate Professor in the Department of English. Her creative and scholarly work explores how women experience gender, sexuality, mental health, labour, and family, and includes both published writing and community-based arts initiatives grounded in storytelling and social change.

Her publications include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, and memoir. Her coming-of-age novel, Where We Have to Go (M&S) was a finalist for the City of Toronto Book Award and praised by The Global and Mail as "a very strong original debut." The novel was translated into Dutch and German and earned her title of "Toronto’s Best Emerging Author" from NOW magazine.

Dr. Kirshner’s writing has appeared in widely in North American publications, including Hazlitt, ELLE, The Malahat Review, THIS, The Globe and Mail, PRISM International, Malahat Review, Carousel, Taddle Creek, and Room. Her non-fiction work, “Twenty Poems about Claudia,” on the women 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.

Her latest book, Sex Work in Popular Culture (UTP, 2024), examines the provocative movies, TV shows, and documentaries about sex work produced in the last decade – a period marked by shifting cultural narratives and intense debate. Drawing on feminist and labour theory, film history, journalism and interviews, the book reveals how popular media is reimagining sex work, particularly through the eyes of women creators and performers.

The book was featured on CBC and in Jacobin, and received a 2025 Honourable Mention for the Popular Culture Association's prestigious Ray and Pat Browne Book Award. Cultural Studies lauded it for its “rich evidence and engaging prose,” describing it as an “important reference” with relevance “not only to academic discourse but also to activism and advocacy.”

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

Dr. Kirshner is a recognized community arts leader whose initiatives use storytelling to advance social justice. With a degree in Education from OISE focused on supportiung marganilzed communities, she is the Founding Director of Sister Writes, an intersectional creative writing and publishing program. Through creative writing workshops, mentorship with acclaimed Canadian writers, public arts events, multimedia, and literary magazines. Dr. Krishner has facilitated experiences for women to tell thier stories and build a platform to be heard. Hailed by The Star, CBC, and The Huffington Post, Sister Writes was recognized in 2018 with an Arts Bridges Award for Remarkable Acheivement in Community Arts.

Her other initiatives include an intergenerational oral history intiative, a writing program for young mothers with The June Callwood Centre, and her Young Authors Project, which was a finalist for the Ontario Minister’s Award for Innovation in the Arts. She has facilitated over 200 workshops and partnered with numerous organizations such as The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Public Library, Luminato, and Sherbourne Community Health Centre. Her community programs have received support from Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils and SSHRC, most recently for her co-leadership of The Crafting Community Collective.

Dr. Kirshner teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in creative writing and works closely with students on White Wall Review. Her dedication to teaching and service has been recognized with the Toronto Metropolitan University New Faculty Teaching Award (2020) and the Faculty of Arts Dean's Service Award (2024).