Watching our language
One of our neighbours has been downsizing recently, and discards from her bookshelves have shown up on the curb by her house. One volume I snapped up was Watch Your Language by Theodore M. Bernstein, described on the cover as…
Frances Peck, novelist
Writing informational prose, training others how to write and edit, and working with other people’s words is a great way to make a living, as most writers and editors will agree. But for some of us, like our recently “retired”…
“You are not a To Do list”
I recently finished reading The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by one of my favourite authors, New Yorker staff writer Atul Gawande. I’ve been interested in using checklists since the book was first published, in 2009—and increasingly find…
Consciously choosing our words
One of our responsibilities as editors is to be on the lookout for discriminatory language, hidden bias, and stereotypes in the text we’re editing. We want to use words and phrases that promote inclusivity, respect, and justice. But this process…
A trio of bestsellers for summer reading
As editors, we always get a little thrill when we spy familiar projects on bestseller lists. If you’re looking for a good read this summer, here are three titles with recent bestseller buzz: At the Bridge: James Teit and an…
Recognizing communications excellence for an important publication
Our warm congratulations go to Legal Aid BC on their recent receipt of a Communicator Award of Excellence for the booklet Keeping Aboriginal Kids Safe: Your Family’s Rights, published in 2019. Judged and curated by the New York–based Academy of…
Adopt-a-Library
Sarah Ng is passionate about school libraries, especially the one at Britannia Secondary School in Vancouver. When Sarah was a student at the school in the 1980s, she and the other kids not only had to leave their classrooms to…
Diversions
As editors and word enthusiasts, we pay close attention to new entries in the various dictionaries we use to do our work. But in these weird and worrying days, it’s hard to be enthusiastic about the new terms that not…
Two new books (this season) by Rowena Rae
Despite these challenging times, we’re all celebrating (at an appropriate distance) our partner Rowena Rae’s publication of not one but two children’s books this spring. Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: Her Life and Ideas was released by Chicago Review…
Brilliant BC and Yukon books
Congratulations to all the authors, illustrators, and publishers shortlisted for the 2020 BC and Yukon Book Prizes! Our partners had a hand in five of the finalists: Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize The Great Bear Rainforest: A Giant-Screen Adventure in the…