Kiera Obbard

I am an award-winning communication professional with experience in internal and external communication, executive thought leadership, and editorial and brand content. I provide freelance communications services including research, management, writing, and editing of brand and editorial content, executive by-lines, and thought-leadership articles.

I am also a poet and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo where I study the feminization and denigration of women’s writing and associated publishing technologies, from the poetess tradition to social media poets. My current book project, The Instagram Effect (forthcoming WLU Press), argues against critics who dismiss Instagram poetry for its association with femininity and instead takes Instagram poetry seriously so as to critically evaluate the economic, technological, literary, social, and cultural risks of a globally popular literature being shared and read on third-party proprietary platforms. I was previously the Michael Ridley Postdoctoral Scholar in Digital Humanities at the University of Guelph. I hold a PhD in Literary Studies from the University of Guelph, an MA in Cultural Studies and Critical Theory from McMaster University, and a BAH in English and Communication from the University of Ottawa.

I am a member of the THINC Lab Executive Committee, co-director of Digital Literary Cultures+, a collaborator on SIGNAL (previously the Digital Feminist Network of Canada), and an editorial board member of the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies.