You are here
Keynotes & Speakers
The Editors Canada conference committee is excited to announce the keynote speakers for the 40th anniversary national conference, to be held June 7–9, 2019, in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Linden MacIntyre
Renowned journalist and author Linden MacIntyre will give the opening keynote address. Linden has spent 50 years working as a journalist in print, television, and radio. His career at the CBC includes 24 years at The Fifth Estate, 7 years as a journalist-producer at The Journal, and 3 years as host and national editor of the CBC current affairs radio program Sunday Morning.
Linden has worked on numerous collaborations between The Fifth Estate and the PBS documentary program Frontline, as well as co-productions with the New York Times. He is the author of seven books, including five novels. His second novel, The Bishop’s Man, was the winner of the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s top award for literary fiction.
His latest novel, The Only Café, was released by Penguin Random House Canada in 2017. His eighth book, a work of non-fiction, is The Wake, due for publication in 2019.
Sheree Fitch
The closing keynote speaker, Sheree Fitch, is a multi-award-winning writer, speaker, and educator. She is also the author of over 30 books in a variety of genres. Since the publication of her first book in 1987, Toes in My Nose, she’s travelled the globe as a visiting poet and storyteller, writing instructor, and literacy educator.
A popular presenter at literary festivals, libraries, and conferences, Sheree has received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, an award given to authors with a body of work that is inspirational to Canadian children. She has three honorary doctorates for her contribution to Canadian literature on issues affecting women and children.
She owns a seasonal book shop in rural Nova Scotia.
Speakers
Mike Allison
Mike Allison is a Halifax-based TV writer who has written on over 200 episodes of CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Becka Barker
Becka Barker loves helping artists and arts organizations find the right words for bringing new creative ideas into being. She lives and works in Halifax.
Wendy Barron
Wendy Barron became an editor five years ago and now writes and edits inclusive and plain-language materials at BC’s provider of legal aid services.
Christine Beevis Trickett
Christine Beevis Tricket, national director of editorial services for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, sees herself as a professional storyteller and NCC's "editorial conscience."
Chris Benjamin
Chris Benjamin is author of three award-winning fiction and nonfiction books and short stories published in journals and anthologies across Canada. He’s on leave from his role as managing editor of Atlantic Books Today to be writer in residence for the South Shore Public Libraries.
Tim Bousquet
Investigative journalist Tim Bousquet is the 2019 recipient of PEN Canada/Ken Filkow Prize for freedom of expression. Tim started the online Halifax Examiner in 2014 after seven years as news editor of the Halifax weekly, The Coast.
Erin Brenner
Erin Brenner has been successfully running Right Touch Editing for over a decade. While she doesn’t love math, she realized early on that she loves business information that helps her work less and earn more.
Carol Bruneau
Carol Bruneau has written five novels, including A Circle on the Surface (2018), and three short story collections. Her first novel, Purple for Sky, won the 2001 Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and the Dartmouth Book Award.
Heather Buzila
Heather Buzila is an editor at Athabasca University in Edmonton and serves on the Editors Canada NEC as vice-president and director of branches and twigs.
Alana Chalmers
Alana Chalmers is an editor, translator and information designer. She works as an editorial consultant at Bell Canada and enjoys sharing her love of language with her team (and brings them baked goods too).
Iva Cheung
Iva Cheung is a Certified Professional Editor and winner of both the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence and the President’s Award for Volunteer Service.
Julia Cochrane
Julia Cochrane has been a freelance copy-editor and proofreader since 1995. She lives in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, with her husband and three cats.
Brenda Conroy
Brenda Conroy has been a freelance copyeditor and book designer for many years.
Pauline Côté
Enseignante de formation, Pauline Côté travaille à son compte depuis plus de 20 ans comme traductrice-réviseure dans une région où l’entrepreneuriat est un mode de vie.
Kira Daube
Kira worked as Jen Powley's personal assistant for two and a half years, a few years ago. Now, Kira works various jobs in and around Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Her favourite thing to do is swim in the ocean.
Stephanie Domet
Stephanie Domet is a writer, editor, and sometime podcaster. She is author of Homing and Fallsy Downsies, and is working on her third novel. She writes non-fiction, teaches creative writing to kids and adults, and edits books.
Lisa Doucet
Lisa Doucet is the Co-Manager of Woozles Children's Bookstore and is a long-time book reviewer for numerous publications. She has served on numerous book-related boards and book award juries, and runs several book clubs for children and teens.
Hilary Drummond
Hilary Drummond has been a bookseller since 1996. She has also worked as a translator, librarian, educator, and academic editor. She holds an MA in Book and Digital Media Studies from Leiden University.
Ben DuPlessis
Ben DuPlessis, after his degree in journalism and experience with editing Jen’s book, went on to science and then medical school.
Shelley Egan
Shelley Egan is an editor and proofreader who specializes in fiction and copy editing. Before starting her own business, she edited Hansard transcripts and taught ESL.
Christine Gordon Manley
Christine Gordon Manley co-owns writing–editing firm, Manley Mann and has been a freelance editor for 15 years. A published author herself, Christine draws on empathy and heart to guide writers from start to finish.
Clare Goulet
Clare Goulet has edited creative nonfiction, poetry, essays, science texts, and fiction. She teaches editing and writing at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax.
Michael Hamm
Michael Hamm grew up in Sambro, NS, with a book always at his side. So it is no surprise that immediately after earning a BA in English at Mount St. Vincent University in 1980, he found himself working his first paying job at Talbots Bookshop in Halifax. This led to a long stay with Readmore, a local chain of bookstores. After managing several of those stores, Michael began working at Bookmark on Spring Garden Road in 1998 and has been happily ensconced there ever since. His personal reading passions range from classic and contemporary literature in translation to biographies of David Lynch and Kids in the Hall.
James Harbeck
James Harbeck has spent nearly 20 years communicating complex and important health information to lay audiences. Find out more about him at jamesharbeck.com.
Christene Hirschfeld
Christene Hirschfeld is a partner in BoyneClarke LLP, a prominent Nova Scotian law firm. Her practice focuses on business, entertainment, and intellectual-property law.
Glenna Jenkins
Glenna Jenkins edits scholarly papers, dissertations and books for non-native English speakers who wish to publish in scholarly journals or meet the requirements of English-language PhD programs. Most of her clients are European, Middle Eastern or Asian academics who do cutting-edge research in their subject areas but have weak English-language skills. Glenna helps them prepare their work for academic committees or publication. She also transforms research papers into plain language so their findings are accessible to policymakers. She feels that this type of work helps her make a small difference in a difficult world.
Dean Jobb
Dean Jobb, an award-winning author and journalist, is on the faculty of the King’s MFA program and writes a true crime column for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. His book Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation, the stranger-than-fiction story of a 1920s Chicago con man, was a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize. His next book recreates the hunt for Doctor Thomas Neill Cream, a Victorian-era serial killer who murdered at least ten people in Canada, Chicago and London.
Rhonda Kronyk
Rhonda Kronyk channels her skills and passions to write and edit grant proposals and to develop effective programming in collaboration with social and arts organizations in her home city, Edmonton.
Stephen Laffoley
Stephen Laffoley is an award-winning author of fiction and creative-nonfiction. Shadowboxing won the 2013 Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award. Hunting Halifax was shortlisted for the 2008 Atlantic Independent Booksellers’ Choice Award and the 2008 Evelyn Richardson Memorial Non-Fiction Award.
Sue MacLeod
Sue MacLeod, CPE, was shortlisted for the Tom Fairley award in 2014. A freelance editor based in Montréal, she is also a poet and novelist.
Robin Marwick
Robin Marwick has been a medical writer and editor specializing in patient communication for over 20 years. She read the data visualization classic How to Lie with Statistics at an impressionable age, and has been on the lookout for bad graphs and dodgy data ever since.
Dr. Emily McEwan
Dr. Emily McEwan is the founder and president of Bradan Press, an independent publisher in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Bradan Press connects readers worldwide with Gaelic language and culture, through nonfiction, poetry, children’s books, and more. Dr. McEwan has been involved with Scottish Gaelic language and culture for 30 years, first in Scotland and now in Nova Scotia. She is author of The Scottish Gaelic Tattoo Handbook and blogs about Gaelic at Gaelic.co.
Virginia McGowan
Virginia (Ginny) McGowan is a social scientist, writer, and editor specializing in nonfiction. As a former university professor, she appreciates the guidelines and uses them extensively in her editing practice.
Jeanne McKane
Jeanne McKane is a Certified Professional Editor, Diplomate Editor in the Life Sciences, Advanced Professional Member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, and winner of the Lee D’Anjou Award Volunteer of the Year Award.
Beverly McLaughlin
Fort de plus de 10 ans d'expérience, Beverly McLaughlin a été traductrice, réviseure et gestionnaire de services linguistiques et entreprise, au gouvernement ainsi qu'au sein d'agences de traduction. Pigiste à ses heures, elle s'est retrouvée de presque tous les côtés de l'équation en ce qui au trait aux projets de traduction.
Cathy McPhalen
Cathy McPhalen works with science and medical researchers in telling their research stories effectively and moving their results into action for our lives—getting the right words to the right audiences.
Lori Messenger
Lori Messenger is a CPA, CA and Manager, Tax at the Dartmouth office of Baker Tilley, a network of accounting firms with more than 40 offices in 7 provinces across Canada and 746 offices worldwide.
Theresa Meuse
Theresa Meuse is a Mi’kmaq author, born and raised in Nova Scotia. She has worked in many areas involving her culture and presently is a Mi’kmaq Aboriginal Student Support Worker for the Halifax Regional Centre of Education.
Whitney Moran
Whitney Moran is the managing editor of Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press in Halifax and co-author of the Atlantic Canada beer guide, East Coast Crafted.
Tiffany Morris
Tiffany Morris is a Mi’kmaw sensitivity reader and experimental poet from K’jipuktuk (Halifax). Her work has appeared in Prairie Fire, Room Magazine, Speculative City, and elsewhere.
donalee Moulton
donalee Moulton, a professional writer and editor based in Halifax, is the owner of Quantum Communications. From her home base, she has provided editing services for clients across Canada—and beyond.
Kyra Nabeta
Kyra is a freelance copy editor and a budding mental health advocate. She has several years’ experience in marine search and rescue and as a volunteer medic.
Lorri Neilsen Glenn
Lorri Neilsen Glenn is the author and editor of 14 books, former Halifax Poet Laureate, and a mentor in the University of King’s College MFA program in creative nonfiction.
Sandy Newton
Sandy Newton has worked in Newfoundland and Labrador as a freelance editor and writer since the 1990s. She is a Tom Fairley Award winner (2012).
Marie-Christine Payette
Marie-Christine Payette is the owner of Les traductions de Marie and offers English-to-French translation, French editing, proofreading and comparative editing as a freelancer.
Laura Poole
Laura Poole has been a freelance editor for over 20 years. She specializes in scholarly nonfiction copyediting.
Jen Powley
Trained as an urban planner who gave up her job because of health reasons, Jen Powley went on to write Just Jen.
Leslie Saffrey
Leslie Saffrey, a freelance Certified Professional Editor based in Toronto, edits and proofreads non-fiction books, articles, and reports.
Louise Saint-André
Energetic speaker and French editor, Louise Saint-André has been teaching workshops for nearly 20 years in professional and private settings, and in universities. She follows Antidote’s developments closely, and enjoys helping others discover and take advantage of them.
Isaac Saney
Isaac Saney is director of Dalhousie University's groundbreaking Transition Year Program. His teaching and scholarship encompasses Africa, the Caribbean, the U.S. civil rights movement, Cuba, and Black Nova Scotian history.
Heather E. Saunders
Heather E. Saunders, owner of Just the Write Type Editing, is a proofreader and STEM/medical editor. She teaches on topics related to editing, freelancing, and science communication and is a board member for the Society for Editing (ACES).
Amy J. Schneider
Amy J. Schneider (www.featherschneider.com), a freelance copyeditor of textbooks, trade nonfiction, and best-selling fiction since 1995, has written articles and presented sessions on editorial topics for Copyediting.com, An American Editor, Communication Central, EFA, ACES, and NWIEG.
Jess Shulman
Jess Shulman, CPE, went freelance in 2016 after 17 years in corporate marketing/communications. She works in fiction and non-fiction, and has worked on content about self-driving cars, retail analytics, football, postpartum depression, and serial killers.
Marion Soublière
Marion Soublière of M.E.S. Editing and Writing Services in Ottawa contracts mainly to Government of Canada clients and blogs about federal procurement at The Editors’ Weekly.
Gael Spivak
Gael Spivak works in food safety communications for the federal government, specializing in plain language writing and editing. She collects squirrels, tiny books, and articles on the singular they.
Simon Thibault
Simon Thibault’s work focuses on where food and culture meet. He is the author of Pantry and Palate: Remembering and Rediscovering Acadian Food. He is currently a Developmental Editor-At-Large with Nimbus Publishing.
Michelle Waitzman
Michelle Waitzman is a freelance writer/editor in Toronto. She works on non-fiction content ranging from law textbooks to Facebook posts and has written about outdoor sex, pigeon-guided missiles, cryptography, and immigrating to New Zealand.
Marianne Ward
Marianne Ward is a freelance editor who has worked on well over 100 books, many of them award winners. Interesting enough, her editing life really started at forty.
Nicole Watkins Campbell
Nicole Watkins Campbell has 30 years’ experience editing and advising on clear communication. She has created plain language materials for legislation and has edited professional standards materials for Editors Canada.
Evelyn C. White
Evelyn C. White has authored Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone: A Photo Narrative of Black Heritage on Salt Spring Island (2009) and Alice Walker: A Life (2004). She is a graduate of Harvard, Wellesley, and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.