I am the former managing editor of Caitlin Press, where I was responsible for evaluating submissions, diagnosing the needs of manuscripts, editing, proofreading, and ensuring each book was on schedule for printer and publishing deadlines. I have a BA in English and publishing and a SSHRC-funded MA specializing in print culture. I pursued three years of FRQSC-funded doctoral study in the English department of McGill University before leaving the program to open my editing business.
Today, I balance my work week between three areas: working as a project coordinator for a research team developing an arts-based suicide intervention for Inuit youth in Nunavik; leading writing events and retreats at the McGill Writing Centre and writing tutoring at First Peoples House; and editing manuscripts like yours. In my downtime, I work on my novel and nurture my interest in textile arts by quilting and sewing clothes.
I have been operating my editing business since late 2022, and the company only continues to grow in exciting ways, primarily due to the repeat clients with which I maintain longstanding professional relationships.
For a full CV, please visit my LinkedIn.
The short story:
Hello—my name is Holly. Based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, I have established a multidisciplinary career, encompassing editing books about bees, the lives of politicians, and a stranded young mother on the remote coast of Newfoundland; coordinating a research team developing an arts-based suicide intervention in Nunavik; co-writing a screenplay about the challenges of a diagnosis; quilting scraps of sentimental fabrics; and writing an essay on deprescription and Hitchcock. Through these experiences, I have come to learn that expressive art forms, be they written, textile, or otherwise, are necessary tools of process, curiosity, and connection—between one another, with oneself, and with the world.
The long story:
My approach to editing and thinking about narrative is backed by a decade of varied experiences. As a substantive editor, for example, I helped one writer develop a collection of numerical data into a narrative about a city’s historical development, and I have woven a series of disconnected creative non-fiction essays into a cohesive memoir that was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize.
I have also copy edited numerous texts, including academic monographs, an academic chapter written in English by a native French speaker, manuals, newsletters, numerous poetry manuscripts, and much else, with edits adhering to different style guides and to varying degrees depending on the context. For instance, I have copy edited a poetry manuscript according to Greg Younging’s Elements of Indigenous Style and applied the Chicago Manual of Style with discretion to a poetry manuscript written in African American Vernacular English. Texts such as these provided me with the opportunity to consider when an editorial practice might be in line with the legacy of colonialization, and how to amend that practice.