Home / Quotes / Quote by Kirsty Duncan

Quote by Kirsty Duncan

“The landscape in academic science is traditionally male-dominated. Women didn't always see themselves there - there was a lack of role models, a lack of champions. It really helped when the Prime Minister appointed a gender-balanced cabinet. That was well-received and people realized that, if the Prime Minister could do it, why can't there be equity other places?”

Quote by Kirsty Duncan

Author

Kirsty Duncan is a prominent Canadian politician and scientist, born on October 31, 1966. She is active in Canadian politics and committed to advancing science, technology, and innovation. more

You May Also Like

“When I go across the country, I am awed, humbled and inspired every day by the tremendous research done every day by women. I hear from them; it still remains difficult. They ask: "Should I have a family or should I have a research career?" No one should have to make that decision.”

Country Done Difficult Decision Inspired

Author:Kirsty Duncan

“I want to get young girls excited in science, tech, engineering mathematics, art, design - and how they come together. We've got this Choose Science campaign. Once women are there, though, we have to retain them. When I look at universities, it's not enough to have role models, we need to have champions. We need to have more women in senior leadership positions. There are issues about work-life balance. Women go to have children and then who keeps the lab running? There are many challenges.”

Children Art Enough Running Together Girl Challenges Design Balance Mathematics Excited Champion Role Models Senior Life Balance

Author:Kirsty Duncan

“In my case, I made the decision early on that I was going to be very open about the book and claim upfront that each of the stories was based on my life experience. I think my reasoning goes back to what I was saying earlier, about wanting the book to be "more than a book," that I wanted the reader to feel a little unsettled about what they were reading: there's a core of factual truth here.”

Thinking Book Reading Decision Life Experience Factual

Author:Leslie Pietrzyk

“I dislike that premise implies that a fiction writer is incapable of dreaming up stories that can bring readers to tears, that if you are lucky enough to be living a pretty sedate life ,as I am, you've got nothing worthy of writing about, that you're incapable of making a reader's gut wrench.Frankly, that's what makes readers nervous, the sorcery of you or me or any good fiction writer making up characters who feel like real people, of telling a story that feels true but isn't.”

People Writing Real Enough Character Dream Tears Lucky Worthy Nervous Guts Dislike Making Up

Author:Leslie Pietrzyk

“Maybe that's the foundation of my book: how do we come to terms with the death of someone we love when it is impossible to come to terms with such a profound loss? The path I found where I could even ask that question, or maybe advance it beyond what I'd attempted in A Year and a Day, was by straddling the line: this is fiction and memoir, it is true and it isn't.”

Book Term Loss Path Impossible Profound Memoir

Author:Leslie Pietrzyk

“My only obligation as a fiction writer is to the story, to make it good, so good the busy reader doesn't feel that flipping those pages was a waste of time. And I still believe that.”

Believe Busy Obligation Wasting Time I Still Believe

Author:Leslie Pietrzyk

“As writers and readers, we're drawn to conflict. It's that ancient theory of plot that's written on the whiteboard during every fiction workshop, characters who want something overcoming obstacles as a way to create narrative momentum and suspense. So there's that, that trauma gives us more plot.”

Giving Character Conflict Overcoming Ancient Obstacles Trauma

Author:Leslie Pietrzyk

“Writing is my way of trying to understand vast things that probably I'll never truly understand, a way of exploring a Big Question, of wrestling meaning from the chaos of life. Consequently, when I choose to write overtly or even secretly about my real life, it's always something difficult and complicated that I'm longing to make sense of.”

Writing Trying Real Difficult Longing Chaos Complicated Real Life My Way Make Sense Wrestling Exploring

Author:Leslie Pietrzyk

“Think about the stories you have inside that scare you. That's what you should be writing. I and others call that writing from the dark place. Our humiliations and secret fears and deepest anxieties, those times where we were at our worst: that's the best material.”

Thinking Writing Dark Secret Worst Anxiety Scare Humiliation

Author:Leslie Pietrzyk

“I've tried to use my love of music, and spoken word performance to create companion pieces for the book.”

Book Companion Spoken Word

Author:Rich Ferguson