All the Lonely People: The Search for Belonging in an Uncertain World

Mandy Len Catron is the author of the critically-acclaimed essay collection How to Fall in Love with Anyone. The book was listed for the RBC Taylor Prize and the Kobo Emerging Writer Award. Her writing can be found in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Rumpus, Orion and The Walrus as well as other newspapers, literary journals, and anthologies. Her essays and talks have been translated into more than thirty languages. Mandy is a faculty member at the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and she is currently working on a book about loneliness. 

Dr. John Oliffe is a Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Men’s Health Promotion at the School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, and a professor at the Department of Nursing, University of Melbourne. As the founder and lead investigator of UBC’s Men’s Health Research program, his qualitative work focuses on the influence of gendered health behaviors and illness management, and its impact on partners, families and overall life quality. He has expertise in wide-ranging qualitative methods, and the findings drawn from his research offers guidance to clinicians and researchers and have informed evaluated tailored interventions for men. 

Carrie Jenkins is a writer and philosophy professor based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Her first novel, Victoria Sees It (Strange Light/Penguin Random House), was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Frye Academy Award. Her non-fiction books include What Love Is and What It Could Be (Basic Books) and Sad Love: Romance and the Search for Meaning (Polity). 

Marina Adshade is a faculty member at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia. She is one of Canada’s foremost economics experts on the role of women in society and a major advocate for inclusive cultural reform, with the goal of increasing safety, competitiveness, and leadership. 

Her unique approach to research applies a mix of economic, sociological, biological, and psychological theories and evidence to a wide range of social issues. She is a sought-after speaker, writer, and social commentator and has published over sixty opinion pieces and feature articles in the Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times (UK), Daily Mail (UK), Globe and Mail, Time Magazine, Psychology Today, the Daily Beast, and Buzzfeed. 

Dr. Kiffer G. Card is an Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. He received his training as a behavioural epidemiologist, social ecologist, and health services researcher from Brigham Young University (B.Sc.), Simon Fraser University (Ph.D.), and the University of Victoria (Post-doctoral Training). Dr. Card is the recipient of multiple highly prestigious awards, including The 2025 Blanche and Charlie Beckerman Public Health Innovation Scholar Award; The 2021 Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar Award, the 2020 CIHR-IHSPR Rising Star Award, The 2018 CTN Postdoctoral Award, The 2018 MSFHR Award, and The 2018 CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellowship. Over the past six years, Dr. Card’s research program provides training to future scholars and raises awareness of key social reforms and policies that aim to help Canadian leaders build happier and healthier communities.