Adrienne Huen
Entertainment Reporter
Students in the creative book publishing program will have the chance to study with one of Canada’s leading professionals in the world of publishing.
“I will be returning (this summer) for my second-year at Humber,” said Diane Davy. “I taught the business components of the curriculum and even though it wasn’t the most popular with students at first, I absolutely loved it.”
Davy, who was born in Winnipeg and attended the University of Toronto for Fine Arts, said her initial attraction to a career in publishing was because she thought it was glamorous.
Davy, whose 25-year career began in Toronto with the educational publishing house, Thomas Nelson and Sons, completed the Executive Management program at Queen’s University before joining the Humber faculty.
“I enjoy a variety of challenges, and the truth is I like new things,” Davy said. “In my career, I’ve worked with books, magazines and even in music and television…but most specifically I enjoy working with children and young adult literature.”
Davy, who has been president of such companies as the marketing and consulting firm NextMedia, Key Porter Books and most notably Owl Books, is now the founder and president of Castledale Inc., a business and marketing strategies company specializing in print publishing.
“I specialize more in the area of children and young adult literature because I find it interesting,” Davy said. “I’ve worked with Owl books, which I would think most Canadians have read or subscribed to during some point in their youth. Really though, I like to think I’ve helped form and bring up a generation.”
While the Creative Book Publishing program is fairly new to Humber, Davy said students should be prepared for an extensive program.
“People come to the program for numerous reasons,” she said. “We have a faculty of industry professionals and most importantly the program offers students a realistic and honest look at the industry, while stressing skills that would be good for both publishing and the broader world.”
The two-semester program, beginning in May, offers students a variety of courses from legal and ethical issues, to marketing and book design and even a course on the history of publishing.
“If I could tell the students only one thing, it would have to be to be open,” Davy said. “Be open to the new.
Publishing is based in traditions and students coming into this career have to understand where these traditions come from so, that when they’re out in the field, they know how to take it to the next step.”
