Laura Penny (born 1975) is a Canadian academic and the author of the bestselling ''Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit'', a study of the phenomenon of

bullshit ''Bullshit'' (also ''bullshite'' or ''bullcrap'') is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism ''bull'' or the initialism B.S. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive. It is mostly a slang term and a ...

and its role in modern society. Penny was featured on '' 60 Minutes'' with Princeton professor

Harry Frankfurt Harry Gordon Frankfurt (born May 29, 1929) is an American philosopher. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University, where he taught from 1990 until 2002. Frankfurt has also taught at Yale University, Rockefeller University, and ...

, author of the similarly themed treatise, ''On Bullshit''. Penny is an occasional contributor to ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

''. She has also written for the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', '' Saturday Night'', '' Chatelaine'', and ''

Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...

'' (for which she is also a contributing editor). Penny holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo (now renamed

Buffalo State College The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of New ...

) . From 2002 to 2006, she taught at the

University of King's College The University of King's College, established in 1789, is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and Nova Scotian Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century." Anglic ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

, where she was a Senior Fellow in the Foundation Year Programme. She then went on to teach at Halifax's

Mount Saint Vincent University Mount Saint Vincent University, often referred to as the Mount, is a public, primarily undergraduate, university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was established in 1873. Mount Saint Vincent offers undergraduate programs in Arts, S ...

and Saint Mary's University while still giving occasional lectures at King's College. , she has returned to King's, teaching courses in the Contemporary Studies & Early Modern Studies programs. Penny published ''More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap, and Idiots Think They're Right,'' a consideration of anti-intellectualism and a defence of the arts and humanities in 2010.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, Laura 1975 births Living people Canadian magazine editors Canadian women journalists Canadian women non-fiction writers Journalists from Nova Scotia Academic staff of University of King's College Writers from Nova Scotia Women magazine editors