Member news (2011)

December 2011

Lynn Coady (Prairie Provinces branch) is the 2011 writer in residence at MacEwan University. Her fourth novel, The Antagonist (House of Anansi Press), earned her a place on the 2011 long list of nominees for the Scotiabank Giller Prize alongside literary heavyweights such as Marina Endicott and Michael Ondaatje.

On October 25, 2011, Grammar Gals, Karen Virag and Virginia Durksen (Prairie Provinces branch), answered grammar questions on CBC Radio's Alberta at Noon program (one of their regular appearances on CBC over the past several years). The Gals and a crowd of 30 or so editors also appeared at the Great Big Grammarfest later that night, at Mount Royal University, Calgary. CBC host Donna McElligott moderated both the show and the evening event.

September 2011

Kudos to BC branch member Heidi Greco whose manuscript, Shrinking Violets, was co-winner of Quattro Books' annual novella competition. Since the book was released at the end of April 2011, Heidi has presented it at Montreal's Blue Met Festival and at launch events in Toronto and London, ON; Saskatoon, SK; Red Deer, AB; and White Rock, BC.

Congratulations also go to Toronto branch member Susan Hughes. Her book, Case Closed: Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science, is a finalist for the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-fiction through the Canadian Children's Book Centre. In addition, her newest non-fiction book for children, Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World, has been published this fall by Owlkids Books.

In June 2011, for the second year in a row, Prairie Provinces branch member Karen Virag received a Golden Leaf Award of Merit for Overall Publication from the Canadian Education Press Association (CEPA), for Just in Time, a newsletter that she writes and edits for the Diversity, Equity and Human Rights Committee of the Alberta Teachers' Association. CEPA represents teacher association presses across Canada. The theme of this award-winning issue was transgender.

Also in June 2011, Karen Virag received an honourable mention in the short article category by the Professional Writers' Association of Canada for "The Naked Truth About Raw," her article about the raw food movement. The article was published in the winter 2010 issue of The Tomato, an Edmonton culinary magazine.

June 2011

Congratulations go to Prairie Provinces branch member Astrid Blodgett. One of her short stories, "Ice Break," has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of The Antigonish Review.

QAC branch member Daphne Davey was recently elected national president of the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association. Among its services, the association offers an instructor certification program, including workshops and exams at the assistant instructor, intermediate instructor, instructor and coach levels. Daphne has been an assistant instructor for 20 years. She has been actively coaching physically challenged, developmentally delayed and autistic children and adults for over 30 years.

Toronto branch member Carolyn Wilker is celebrating the release of her new book, Once Upon a Sandbox. Published by Reflections on the Past, the book is a memoir about life on a family farm in Ontario in the 50s and 60s.

May 2011

Toronto branch member Peggy Ireland was a judge in the first annual "Money Doesn't Grow on Trees!" international financial literacy contest sponsored by Phat Math, Inc. Peggy is the author of Easy Tax Tips for Canadians.

QAC branch member Carolyne Roy has just completed proofreading two books aimed at college students. Environnement économique and Calcul différentiel, both published by Éditions CEC, will teach students about the workings of economics and differential mathematics.

April 2011

Kudos to BC branch member Frank Chow, who copy edited The Aquaculture Controversy in Canada: Activism, Policy, and Contested Science by sociologists Nathan Young and Ralph Matthews. The book was recently awarded the 2011 K.D. Srivastava Prize for Excellence in Scholarly Publishing. The prize is given each year by the Publications Board of UBC Press to the author(s) of a work of outstanding scholarly quality published by the Press in the previous year.

A book indexed by Prairie Provinces branch member Judy Dunlop has been shortlisted for the Writers Guild of Alberta's Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction: Prodigal Daughter: A Journey to Byzantium by Myrna Kostash (University of Alberta Press). The awards will be announced on June 11 at a gala event in Calgary.

Adrienne Montgomerie, a member of the Kingston twig and an Editors Canada speaker, has been invited to speak at the Thousand Islands Writers' Festival in Brockville, Ontario, on May 7 on "Finding a Good Editor—and Why You Need One." Fellow Kingston twig member Sheelagh Frame will talk about editing in academia. The event is being organized by another Kingston twig member, Chris Stesky.

Congratulations to NCR branch member Suzanne Nussey, who was one of three winners of Event magazine's 2010 Non-Fiction Contest. Her essay, "Sleep, Mother and Child," is featured in the magazine's most recent issue.

Prairie Provinces branch member Marguerite Watson has been shortlisted for the Writers Guild of Alberta's 2011 Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Prize for her essay "Closer to the Bone." Marguerite was also shortlisted for the WGA's James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction in 2010 for an essay entitled "What Grows in the Soil.

March 2011

Jeff Bursey, QAC branch member, is pleased to announce the release of his first book, Verbatim: A Novel. Published by Enfield & Wizenty, the book is a satirical work set in a fictional Canadian legislature in the 1990s.

Nancy Mackenzie, Prairie Provinces branch member, recently celebrated the release of her third book of poetry titled Communion. The book, published by Ekstasis Editions, explores spiritual and philosophical themes and is available at Edmonton's Greenwoods' Bookshoppe.

Kudos to BC branch member Melva McLean, who has co-written a screenplay with Bonnie Gibson that has been optioned by Britain's Serendipity Films/Create Lab. Called Dragonfly, the screenplay is a "family road trip" film.

Congratulations to Toronto branch member Lily Quan, who was recently awarded a Toronto Arts Council Grant to complete her novel-in-progress, Dreams of the White City. The novel is historical fiction set in 1890s Chicago.

Philip Sherwood, BC Branch member, was the editor of two recently acclaimed books. In the Arms of My Beloved, written by Sandra Crawford, won the 2010 Word Guild Award for Best Independently Published Non-fiction. Susanne Remembers: A Mennonite Childhood in Revolutionary Russia, by Susanne Willms Thielman, won the 2010 Abbotsford Arts Council ARTY Award for Literary Arts.

January 2011

Kudos to BC branch member Nancy Flight for editing two acclaimed new books: Smiling Bears by Else Poulsen and A Hunter's Confession by David Carpenter. Smiling Bears, an enlightening and moving portrait of bears in all their complexity, was shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. A Hunter's Confession, which tells the story of hunting, recently won the Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award. Both books are published by Greystone Books.

Do you have an achievement you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you! Send your news to the member news coordinator. Each news item will be posted once on the website and once in Editors Canada's e-news update.