Image: Seth, Newsboy (2016)

The Guelph Mercury’s former managing editor Phil Andrews in conversation with veterans of the newspaper industry: Rob O’Flanagan, Mathew McCarthy, Adam Donaldson, Seth, and Stephanie MacLellan.

This ‘In Conversation’ coincides with the two newspaper exhibitions currently on display at Guelph Civic Museum, “B&W and Read All Over“ and “The Dailies: Front Pages & Frontispieces”.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Phil Andrews was managing editor of the Guelph Mercury and GuelphMercury.com from September 2005 until the daily paper’s closure in January 2016. He worked for more than 20 years in the daily newspaper industry, in a variety of newsroom roles, for several different companies. He resides in Guelph and now works in communications in the public sector. He’s also the editor of Guelph Mercury Rising – a collection of short stories by former members of the paper’s newsroom teams.

Adam Donaldson writes a weekly political column for GuelphToday, writes and manages Guelph Politico, and co-hosts a political and current affairs show on CFRU 93.3 fm called “Open Sources Guelph.” When not being political, Adam co-hosts the movies and pop culture show “End Credits“, and as a freelance writer he has contributed to various papers, periodicals and websites including Nerd Bastards, We Got This Covered, the Guelph Mercury, the Waterloo Region Record, Press+1, Lucid Forge, and Women’s Post. Adam was also named one of the Guelph Mercury’s 40 Under 40 in 2013 for his work with Ed Video Media Arts Centre.

Stephanie MacLellan is a senior research associate at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, focusing on digital policy issues such as cybersecurity, disinformation and digital rights. She spent more than a decade in journalism as an editor and reporter, covering city hall at the Guelph Mercury before joining the Hamilton Spectator and the Toronto Star. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University and a Master of Global Affairs from the Munk School of Global Affairs.

Mathew McCarthy has been a photojournalist for 30 years, working at several daily newspapers in southern Ontario and the Canadian Press wire service as a photo editor. He is currently a staff photographer at the Waterloo Region Record where he has worked since 1997.

Rob O’Flanagan is a writer, visual artist and award-winning journalist. A reporter, columnist and photojournalist for over 20 years, Rob won a number of Ontario Newspaper Awards in a host of categories and a National Newspaper Award as part of a three-person team. He worked for daily newspapers in Sudbury and Guelph during his career, covered all major beats and produced weekly columns and investigative features. He is the author of the Blown Kiss Collection, a volume of short fiction, and co-author of Open Up the Sky: A Poetic Conversation. Rob lives in Guelph and shares a Crimea Street painting studio with his wife, Valerie Senyk.

Seth is a cartoonist and visual artist. Known for his realistic, elegant graphic novels, where he invents slightly askew histories of Canada and cartooning. His comics have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Best American Comics, and McSweeneys Quarterly. His illustrations have appeared in numerous publications including the cover of the New Yorker, the Walrus, and Canadian Notes & Queries. Seth lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Link to the article and podcast: https://guelphpolitico.ca/2019/07/03/guelph-politicast-175-in-conversation-at-guelph-civic-museum/

About B&W And Read All Over:

Guelph’s storied past is recounted through this exhibition, which traces the history of The Guelph Mercury, this city’s daily printed newspaper that reported the local, national and international news to our community from 1854 to 2016.

About The Dailies: Front Pages & Frontispieces:

What “makes” the front page? The Dailies explores the history of headline news, the form and function of the “front page” in news making, and the use of photographs and illustrations to tell the story of a thousand words.