Recent Class Notes

Books and Beyond

  • Ami Trivedi smiles confidently in a light blazer against a bold orange background. Large navy and white text beside her reads “ASK FOR IT” in all caps.

    Ask For It

    Ami Trivedi, Artsci’19, MIB’21

    Learning to understand “who you are talking to, what the situation is, and how to filter yourself accordingly” are fundamental to building stronger relationships, according to Ami Trivedi, Artsci’19, MIB’21. This aptitude helped inform the entrepreneur’s philosophy behind her podcast, Ask For It, in which she shares sales strategies, mindset shifts, and real-world lessons to help people elevate their performance. Her episodes address how to nail an interview, ask for a raise, and take control of one’s career. Ask For It is found on most platforms offering podcasts.

  • Cover of the book The Music Lover’s Guide to North America by Josephine Matyas and Craig Jones, featuring bold text and colorful illustrations of musical and travel icons.

    The Music Lover’s Guide to North America

    Craig Jones, MA’87, PhD’97

    Take two music lovers and add a desire for North American travel and you get a guidebook for the musically obsessed. Co-authored by Craig Jones, MA’87, PhD’97, and his wife, Josephine Matyas, The Music Lover’s Guide to North America explores the familiar (think Nashville) to the less well known: including the Celtic Interpretive Centre in Cape Breton, N.S., featuring Ashley MacIsaac’s and Natalie MacMaster’s fiddles, to the Hank Snow Home Town Museum in Liverpool, N.S. is available from Bloomsbury Publishing October 2025.

  • Book cover for The Silent Film Star Murders by Melodie Campbell. A woman in a blue swimsuit looks out a ship's porthole, framed by bold art deco borders.

    The Silent Film Star Murders

    Melodie Campbell, Com’78

    Ever since she was young, Melodie Campbell, Com’78, wanted to be either Carolyn Keene (the pen name used by authors of the Nancy Drew series) or Agatha Christie, and she’s well on her way to achieving that, having authored 19 novels, many of them mysteries. Her latest whodunnit, The Silent Film Star Murders, involves former mob goddaughter Lucy Revelstoke (from her Merry Widow series) confronting another murder. This one is set on an ocean liner during the roaring ’20s.  is available from Cormorant Books.

  • Book cover for Trading on Art by Sarah E.K. Smith. It features twelve plates, each with a painted shape of a North American region, symbolizing cultural trade.

    Trading on Art

    Sarah E.K. Smith, BFA’06, MA’08, PhD’13,

    Given the climate between Canada and the United States, insight into navigating that relationship is vital. Trading on Art examines how visual art and exhibitions have played a key role in North American free trade relationships in the past, and how artists and cultural institutions have been central to constructing this understanding. Authored by Sarah E.K. Smith, BFA’06, MA’08, PhD’13, it explores how Canadian artists engaged with, contested, and reflected on free trade to create a continental unity, and yet were paradoxically left out of this vision. is available from UBC Press.

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