Dave Meslin (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)

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WP:BLP of an activist and writer, not properly sourced as passing inclusion criteria. As always, neither activists nor writers are automatically entitled to have Wikipedia articles just because they exist, and have to be shown to pass WP:GNG on third-party analytical coverage about them and their work -- but the attempted notability claim here is that he exists and wrote a book, and the sole footnote is a magazine article where he was the bylined author rather than the subject. But as usual, you don't make a writer notable by sourcing his work to itself as verification that it exists, you make a writer notable by sourcing his work to third-party coverage about it (book reviews, notable literary award nominations and/or wins, etc.) as evidence that its significance has been externally validated by somebody other than its own publisher.
Meanwhile, on a ProQuest search, I'm not finding much in the way of coverage about him: there are a couple of reviews of his book (mostly a single wire service article being reprinted in multiple newspapers), but not really enough reviews of the book to get him over GNG just on those alone, and otherwise I'm really only finding glancing namechecks of his existence as a provider of soundbite in coverage of other things rather than coverage which actually has him as its subject.
He's certainly locally known in his own city, but nothing here is adding up to enough nationalized or internationalized prominence to exempt him from having to have a lot more and better referencing than just one piece of his own writing. Bearcat (talk) 16:59, 6 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Authors and Canada. Bearcat (talk) 16:59, 6 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep - Meslin's advocacy against corporate billboards in public places is well known around Toronto, but a documentary about him has attracted international attention, e.g. Al Jazeera, and a detailed article from the CBC about the documentary, among other coverage. Besides that work, I found this 1,400-word detailed write-up in Macleans about his work on democratic reform, and another from Macleans ([1]) which is a borderline passing mention, but there are plenty more articles in smaller publications about this work, e.g. [2], [3], [4], [5] (some of these are third-party reviews of one of his books, maybe the same wire service review Bearcat mentioned, but being picked up by multiple outlets suggests notability). There are also plenty of links around to his TED talks and speaking engagements, which suggest notability but aren't really useful as references. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 20:40, 6 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete: Dave Meslin is known in Toronto for his activism against corporate billboards, with international attention from a documentary covered by Al Jazeera and CBC. His work on democratic reform has some media coverage, including Macleans articles and TED talks. However, he lacks sufficient third-party analysis to meet Wikipedia’s notability standards, with limited independent coverage beyond local recognition and a few book reviews. YoYoSuryaPatra → talk 14:479, 08 February 2025 (UTC)