{{short description|Canadian writer and entrepreneur}} '''Gregory Levey''' (born c. 1978) is a Canadian writer and entrepreneur. He is associate professor of professional communication at Toronto Metropolitan University, co-founder of the software company Figure 1, a journalist and an author.
==Career== Levey was a young law student at Fordham University in New York City when he was hired in 2004 as a speechwriter for the Israeli Delegation to the United Nations and then was a writer of speeches for an Anglophone audience for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon until 2006.<ref name="ElmasryProfile">{{cite news|last1=Elmasry|first1=Faiza|title=Writer Explores Complexity of Middle East Conflict (profile/interview)|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/writer-explores-complexity-of-middle-east-conflict-112546834/164847.html|access-date=June 9, 2016|publisher=Voice of America|date=December 27, 2010}}</ref><ref name="MozgovayaSatire"/><ref name="SpivakLaughing">{{cite news|last1=Spivak|first1=Rhonda|title=Ex-Sharon speechwriter keeps 'em laughing|url=http://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/ex-sharon-speechwriter-keeps-em-laughing|accessdate=June 9, 2016|publisher=Canadian Jewish News|date=November 6, 2008}}</ref> He worked for some years as a journalist and freelance writer, then became a professor of communication at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and co-foundered the software company Figure 1.<ref name="SissiDoctors"/><ref name="ElmasryProfile"/>
Levey's "controversial and much-discussed" 2009 magazine article,<ref name="WilsonDefense">{{cite news|last1=Wilson|first1=Renée|title=In defence of the iGeneration|url=https://this.org/2013/11/20/in-defence-of-the-igeneration/|accessdate=June 9, 2016|publisher=This|date=November 20, 2013}}</ref> "Lament for the iGeneration", caused a stir with its assertion that a generation of students, the iGeneration, brought up on online, lack the skills and capacity to handle a post-secondary education.<ref name="MillarLament">{{cite news|last1=Millar|first1=Erin|title=Lament for the lament for the iGeneration|publisher=MaCleans|date=October 5, 2009}}</ref>
==Figure 1 (corporation)== Levey co-founded the social media company Figure 1.<ref name="SissiDoctors">{{cite news|last1=Wang|first1=Sissi|title=How Figure 1 plans to go global with its 'Instagram for doctors'|url=http://www.canadianbusiness.com/innovation/figure-1-global-growth/|accessdate=June 1, 2016|publisher=Canadian Business|date=October 6, 2015}}</ref><ref name="LeveyFigure">{{cite news|title=Gregory Levey Figure 1|url=http://procom.ryerson.ca/article/procom-professor-gregory-levey%E2%80%99s-figure-1-app-hits-500000-users|accessdate=June 1, 2016|publisher=Ryerson University}}</ref><ref name="deMontignyStartup">{{cite news|last1=de Montigny|first1=Philippe|title=How a tweet led to Toronto medical photo app Figure 1 getting backing from Union Square Ventures|url=http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/fp-startups/how-a-tweet-led-to-toronto-medical-photo-app-figure-1-getting-backing-from-union-square-ventures?__lsa=bdeb-6d3c|accessdate=June 9, 2016|publisher=Financial Post|date=August 26, 2014}}</ref>
==Books== Levey's 2008 memoir, ''Shut Up, I'm Talking: And Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned in the Israeli Government: A Memoir'', recounts his stint as a speech writer at the United Nations.<ref name="HarrisShutUp">{{cite news|last1=Harris|first1=Ben|title=Memoir recounts bizarre U.N. mission|url=https://www.jta.org/2008/04/24/news-opinion/politics/memoir-recounts-bizarre-u-n-mission|accessdate=May 31, 2016|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=April 24, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Waxman">{{cite news|last1=Waxman|first1=Maron|title=Shut Up, I'm Talking: And Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned in the Israeli Government: A Memoir|url=http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/shut-up-im-talking|accessdate=May 31, 2016|publisher=Jewish Book Council}}</ref> The book recounts how Levey, then a 20-year-old Law student, landed a job as a speechwriter for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The book's title went viral on social media.<ref name="JoshiShutUp">{{cite news|last1=Joshi|first1=Pradnya|title=A Book Attracts Loads of Facebook Fans. But Why?|url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/a-book-attracts-loads-of-facebook-fans-but-why/?_r=0|accessdate=June 1, 2016|work=New York Times|date=August 29, 2010}}</ref><ref name="SpivakLaughing"/>
Levey's second book, ''How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less: Without Leaving Your Apartment'', was a satire of the Middle Eastern peace process.<ref name="CrossAuthor">{{cite news|last1=Cross|first1=Miriam|title=Author Brings humour to solving the Mideast conflict|url=http://www.cjnews.com/images/stories/Heebonics/Oct_14_10.pdf|accessdate=June 9, 2016|publisher=Canadian Jewish News|date=October 14, 2010}}</ref><ref name="MozgovayaSatire">{{cite news|last1=Mozgovaya|first1=Natasha|title=Focus U.S.A. How to Make Peace in the Middle East Without Leaving Your Apartment|url=https://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/focus-u-s-a-how-to-make-peace-in-the-middle-east-without-leaving-your-apartment-1.313623|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915033810/http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/focus-u-s-a-how-to-make-peace-in-the-middle-east-without-leaving-your-apartment-1.313623|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 15, 2010|accessdate=June 9, 2016|publisher=Haaretz|date=September 13, 2010}}</ref><ref name="AllenReview">{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=Jessica|title=How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment (Book Review)|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2010/0908/How-to-Make-Peace-in-the-Middle-East-in-Six-Months-or-Less-Without-Leaving-Your-Apartment|accessdate=June 9, 2016|publisher=Christian Science Monitor|date=September 8, 2010}}</ref><ref name="ElmasryProfile"/>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *[http://www.gregorylevey.com Personal website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Levey, Gregory}} Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Speechwriters Category:21st-century Canadian memoirists Category:Canadian political writers Category:Fordham University School of Law alumni Category:Academic staff of Toronto Metropolitan University Category:Jewish Canadian non-fiction writers Category:Canadian public relations people Category:Writers from Toronto