Amy Haagsma – West Coast Editorial Associates

Written Treasures: Medieval manuscripts and bookmaking

September 12, 2025
Amy Haagsma
Amy Haagsma, Books, Projects

The cover of Written Treasures.

“Every manuscript permits a sort of time travel – bringing us closer to an understanding of how people in the Middle Ages made, read and used their books.”
—Irene O’Daly

Last fall, I had the opportunity to work on a fascinating book about medieval manuscripts, Written Treasures, featuring 50 manuscripts from Leiden University Libraries’ Western Medieval Manuscripts collection. The book was compiled and edited by André Bouwman, a curator for Leiden University Libraries’ Special Collections, and Irene O’Daly, an assistant professor in Leiden University’s Centre for the Arts in Society. Bouwman and O’Daly also wrote the introductory essays and several of the manuscript essays.

The cover of the second edition of Elements of Indigenous Style by Gregory Younging.

Elements of Indigenous Style: Continuing the conversation

February 11, 2025
Amy Haagsma
Amy Haagsma, Books, Indigenous

The second edition of Gregory Younging’s Elements of Indigenous Style was released last month. A launch event with editors Warren Cariou and Lorena Sekwan Fontaine will be held on Wednesday, February 12.

A collection of colourful cut-out letters.

Words into (accessible) type

As writers and editors, we understand the importance of choosing the right words to communicate with our intended audience. Another part of communicating is how our words are presented on the page or onscreen.

A laptop and mobile phone on a desk, both with a circle bordering a person with their legs wide and arms stretched out, a symbol of accessibility. Two hands are shown typing on the laptop keyboard, and a coffee cup sits on the desk next to the laptop.

Editing for accessibility

As editors, we are advocates for readers—the people who use the documents we help produce. If a document is not accessible, a significant portion of the intended audience may not be able to receive the message.

Graves at Ross Bay Cemetery, surrounded by trees and coloured fall leaves

Good times, gin and tonics, and gossip in the graveyard

July 1, 2022
Amy Haagsma
Amy Haagsma, Frances Peck, History, Partners, Yvonne Van Ruskenveld

Last month, WCEA partners gathered for a long-overdue celebration of former partner Frances Peck’s retirement.

A laptop with a document with red editing marks sitting on top of the screen and a pencil writing on the document

Perfecting PerfectIt

November 1, 2021
Amy Haagsma
Amy Haagsma, Editing

PerfectIt, a style and consistency checker for editors, recently announced an integration with the Chicago Manual of Style that brings Chicago Style lookups right into Microsoft Word. What is PerfectIt? PerfectIt is editing and proofreading software that runs as an…

’Tis the (editing conference) season

April 1, 2021
Amy Haagsma
Amy Haagsma, Editing, Professional development

Last year, many editing conferences were cancelled due to COVID-19. Although we’ve come a long way in the last year, in-person gatherings are still uncertain. As a result, many editing associations and organizations have decided to hold their 2021 annual conferences virtually.

Welcoming our new partner

We are so pleased to announce that Amy Haagsma is a new partner of West Coast Editorial Associates effective today, October 1, 2020. Amy, based in Langley, specializes in copy editing and proofreading non-fiction materials, with a focus on technical…