
Save the date for May 3, 2023! The Walrus looks forward to celebrating 20 years of fact-based journalism with you. More details will be posted soon. Contact laura@thewalrus.ca for more information, and scroll below for a look back on our 2022 gala. For information on sponsorship, individual tickets and auction donation opportunities, please click here.
The Walrus Gala 2022
Thank You to All Who Attended!
The Walrus Gala
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
The Fermenting Cellar
28 Distillery Lane, Toronto
What a treat to reunite in person at The Walrus Gala: Celebrating Curiosity after two and a half years. The celebration was a testament to the power of conversation, curiosity, and community—the elements of a strong, healthy society.
Together we raised over $477,000 which will directly support our work to deliver the high quality, fact-checked journalism that everyone deserves.
A huge thank you to our committee co-chairs, national partners, Gala sponsors, Trust members, Optimistic Canadians, donors at large, and volunteers—and to each and every one of you for joining us in celebration of curiosity, and the power of independent journalism.
Check out 📸 photos from the event here and here. You can also read about The Walrus Gala 2022 here and see more pics on this page in the Globe and Mail.
For more information regarding our auction click here.
See you next year—stay tuned for the announcement of our 2023 date!
The 2022 Lineup

Jennifer Hollett
Executive Director, The Walrus
Jennifer has worked as the head of news and government at Twitter Canada and is the co-founder of the fact-checking Super PAC App, which debuted at number one in the App Store. As an award-winning host, reporter, and producer, she’s covered stories across Canada and around the world with CBC News, CTV News, and MuchMusic. Jennifer has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA with a specialization in journalism and communications from Concordia University. Fun fact: her first job after Concordia involved answering emails for Céline Dion.

Aysanabee
Aysanabee is an Oji-Cree multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter, currently based in Toronto. His sound ranges from Lofi-R&B with layered electronica and looped instruments to Indie-pop backed by session musicians.
He was featured in the Indigenous Music Awards Emerging Artists Series and was in the running for the IMA’s music video competition for his song “The Dawn.”

Canisia Lubrin
Canisia Lubrin is an acclaimed poet, editor, and writer. Her books include The Dyzgraphxst (M&S, 2020) and her debut, Voodoo Hypothesis (Wolsak & Wynn, 2017), named a CBC Best Book and listed for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Raymond Souster Award. Lubrin’s honours include the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for a body of work, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Derek Walcott Prize, Canada Council’s Joseph S. Stauffer Prize for literary achievement, and finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Trillium Book Award for Poetry. Anthologies that include her fiction were finalists for the Toronto Book Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. Lubrin was longlisted twice for the Journey Prize. She is a 2022 Civitella Ranieri Fellow, and her residencies include the Banff Centre, Queen’s University, an inaugural appointment as 2021 Shaftesbury Writer-in-Residence at Victoria College, University of Toronto, and a 2022 Literature Haus LCB residency in Berlin. In 2021, the Globe and Mail named Lubrin Poetry Ambassador of the Year. She was a member of the Canadian Guest of Honour delegate to the Frankfurt Book Fair. Lubrin completed her MFA at the University of Guelph, where she now teaches and is coordinator of the MFA in Creative Writing in the School of English and Theatre Studies.

The Walrus House Band
Dean Aivaliotis (keys), Kristjan Bergey (sax), Justin Gray (bass), Francois Klark (vox), Shawn Rompre (drums), Nick Tateishi (guitar), Marla Walters (vox)

Reading by Canisia Lubrin
Bio
The Walrus Gala 2022 by George Pimentel Photography
Our Sponsors and Supporters
Live Arts Sponsor
Extraordinary Sponsors
Diane Blake and Stephen Smith
Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin
Inspirational Sponsors
Janelle and Pierre Lassonde
Legendary Sponsors
David Binet | Shane and Kim Hollett | Zai Mamdani | Melanie McCaig and Allan Magee | The McCaig Family: Ann, Roxanne, and Jane | Rosemary Phelan
Distinguished Supporters
Stephen Atkinson | Shari Austin | Helen Burstyn | Cameron Charlebois | Eva Czigler and Peter Herrndorf | John Delacourt | Martha Durdin | Arturo Franco and Katherine Tweedie | Nona Heaslip | Wanda Ho Pladsen and Tom Pladsen | Donald K. Johnson | Andrew Knight | Douglas Knight and Shelley Ambrose | Mike and Martha Pedersen | Gretchen and Donald Ross | Ray Sharma
With generous assistance from
Chethan Lakshman, Chima Nkemdirim, and Zai Mamdani
The Walrus Gala Committee 2022
Jodi Butts
Pacinthe Mattar
Roxanne McCaig
Shakir Chambers
Eva Czigler
Alyssa Hussein
Chethan Lakshman
Rosemary Phelan
Ray Sharma
David Simmonds