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Catherine Lang won the Penny Wise Journalism Scholarship to attend the journalism program at Langara College in 1988, after which she moved on to community newspaper reporting and freelance writing. These endeavours led to the publication of O'Bon in Chimunesu in 1996. A creative non-fiction work about the former Japanese-Canadian community in Chemainus, BC., it won the Hubert Evans Nonfiction Award in 1997. Following a stint in the treaty negotiation biz for the provincial government in Victoria for 14 years, Catherine semi-retired to work as an editor of legislative debates. The mother of two grown children, she has written a memoir about her niece, Michelle Lang, the Calgary Herald journalist killed in Afghanistan in December 2009. Published by Caitlin Press, it's titled Embedded: The Irreconcilable Nature of War, Loss and Consequence.
Catherine offers a PowerPoint presentation about the memoir she wrote of her niece, Michelle Lang, who was the only Canadian journalist killed during Canada's mission in Afghanistan, 2001 to 2014. She covers topics such as the importance of press freedom, her relationship with journalism and the role of journalists covering conflict and war.
Michelle Lang won a National Newspaper Award for best beat reporting in 2008. Catherine provides a portfolio of Michelle's work to offer journalism students a record of Ms. Lang's contribution to Canadian journalism.
One journalism professor said this about Catherine's presentation: "There's something really beautiful in your connection with Michelle and how you come back to it through a work of journalism--investigating her story and her world and leaving a record of her legacy."
