An eye-opening experience
On a sunny, breezy evening in Montreal, my two daughters, my nephew, and I walked through the front door of an unassuming-looking restaurant named Onoir.
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.
An energizing week with young readers
Since 1977, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre has organized and hosted an annual book tour for children’s authors, illustrators, and storytellers.
I read to you, you read to me
It’s late afternoon. I’m in the kitchen making supper, and my daughters are in the living room doing homework. Suddenly, giggles break the silence. Then, the two girls barrel upstairs to their bedrooms. More giggles and the odd whoop funnel…
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…
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…
Behind the scenes with Canadian publishers
Some months ago, an unexpected and flattering invitation came my way: to be the keynote speaker at the Association of Canadian Publishers’ 2020 Mid-Winter Meeting, January 28–29, in Toronto. The ACP organizers asked me to talk about the value of…
Celebrating Canadian children’s literature
We at West Coast Editorial Associates regularly edit and proofread books created in Canada. And, yes, some of us write them too. Immersed as we are, it’s easy to assume that everyone reads Canadian books. But a 2018 report by…
WCEA’s 2019 holiday season book club
As editors, most of us probably consider books among the very best of gifts we ever received—or gave. A recommendation for a good read can be just as valuable. Here’s a sampling of what we dipped into this year that…