Canadian Writers Group

Find a Writer

Subject Experience » Recreation & leisure »

• Barbara K. Adamski

  Vancouver, British Columbia

  A writer, editor, and certified proofreader, Barb has worked on educational manuals, annual reports, brochures, newsletters, and web copy. She writes for several magazines and trade publications and has written and recorded for CBC Radio. A stickler for facts, she is a regular contributor to The Canadian Encyclopedia. Barb has a B.A. in French Literature, a diploma in professional writing and editing, and an M.A. in Integrated Studies (specializing in cultural studies). An avid lacrosse fan, Barb's thesis is on the history of lacrosse, a topic she has written about extensively. She also speaks Japanese.

• Leslie Anthony

  Whistler, B.C. and Toronto, ON

  Leslie Anthony is a writer, editor, and filmmaker with interests in popular science, environment, action sports, and adventure travel. His PhD in Zoology belies a career that includes Managing Editor of Powder, Creative Director of Skier, and Editor of internationally acclaimed Peak Performance Journal. He resides on the masthead of several North American ski and outdoor magazines, and his work appears annually in twelve countries in seven languages. He writes broadly about subjects ranging from imaginary monsters to fossil smuggling, invasive species to China’s nascent ski industry. His forthcoming book, The Body Birchbark, is a meditative canoe journey examining the father-daughter relationship.

• Bert Archer

  Toronto, ON

  Bert Archer was born in Montreal, and raised and educated in Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria, Dublin and Toronto. He started work as a journalist in 1993, and has worked for many newspapers and magazines as an editor, manager, writer and columnist.

• Gabrielle Bauer

  Toronto, ON

  Gabrielle has been a freelance writer for the past 16 years. She has written articles in just about all the major Canadian magazines, along with two published books. She's won several writing awards, including National Magazine Awards, KRW Awards, and the Canada Japan Book Prize (for her first book). Gabrielle also does medical writing for a large roster of pharmaceutical and pharma-marketing companies.

• Michael Benedict

  Toronto, ON

  Michael Benedict offers writing, editing and consulting services to a diverse group of not-for-profit and for-profit clients. Michael worked in journalism for three decades, including 19 years as an editor at Maclean’s. He also was a director of corporate communications with both the province of Ontario and Canada Post. In 2005, Michael established MCB Strategies, a Vendor of Record for writing services for the Ontario government and registered with the federal government’s Professional Services Online. In the corporate and journalistic worlds, Michael has dealt with prime ministers, premiers, cabinet ministers and CEOs. He is a member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada and the Editors’ Association of Canada.

• Sarah Boesveld

  Toronto, ON

  Born and raised in rural Eastern Ontario, Sarah sees the world from a distinctly Canadian perspective. A driven newshound, she graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Journalism degree and has worked as a reporter in the Life and News sections at The Globe and Mail, covering everything from the G20 to TIFF. She loves a good ‘get’ and any tale that really grabs a reader while speaking to what matters in their daily lives. You can usually find her digging for story ideas or owning the mike at karaoke.

• Suzanne Boles

  London, Ontario

  Suzanne is an award-winning freelance journalist/writer. She has been freelancing for over 15 years. A former assistant editor of London Magazine, her work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. Suzanne also works with business clients providing ghostwriting, advertising copy, editing, website copy, and other writing needs, as well as some design. She teaches writing courses at The University of Western Ontario and mentors writers. A member The Professional Writer's Association of Canada (PWAC) since 1995, Suzanne was on the organization's national Board of Directors for six years serving as Ontario Regional Director, Vice President, President and Past President.

• Andrew Braithwaite

  Boston, MA

  Andrew Braithwaite specializes in such topics as deliver happiness – writing about cool stuff you can eat, or drink, or visit, or live inside. He also covers sport, which every season breaks the heart of nearly all its followers. A graduate of Harvard University in History and Science, Andrew is a former Associate Editor at Azure, the Toronto-based magazine of architecture and design. He is a member of the AIPS (International Sports Press Association), and is a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers. Originally from British Columbia, Andrew has lived and worked in Toronto, Boston, Paris, Chicago, Dublin, Johannesburg, and Washington, D.C.

• Kevin Brooker

  Calgary, Alberta

  Ever since he began professional writing in 1979 with the then-still-vital, P.J. O'Rourke-edited National Lampoon, Brooker has forged a voice that is at once wry, playful and authoritative. Known for his first draft excellence, he is a resolute generalist, equally able to develop captivating ideas on his own or deliver the precise package hoped for by the editor—in virtually any genre. Brooker is also an outspoken broadcaster with extensive CBC experience, and has co-hosted The Road Pops Program on CJSW Radio since 1985. Mad for skiing, surfing, cooking and growing food in his downtown back yard.

• Lynn Coady

  Edmonton, AB

  Lynn Coady is a Canadian novelist, editor and journalist living in Edmonton, Alberta.  She has published four award winning works of fiction and has acted as editor on novels and anthologies published by Doubleday Canada, House of Anansi Press, and Brindle and Glass Publishing.  She is also a writing teacher and mentor and regularly contributes non-fiction to magazines and newspapers across Canada.  She writes a weekly advice column for the Globe and Mail, and is the co-founder and senior editor of a the magazine Eighteen Bridges.  Her new novel, The Antagonist, will be published by House of Anansi in Fall 2011.

• Christy Ann Conlin

  Halifax, NS

  Christy Ann Conlin is a bestselling novelist, essayist, speech writer, ghost writer, editor, motivational speaker and educator.  Her writing has appeared in newspapers, magazines, anthologies and journals in Canada and the United States. She holds a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and an Education Degree from Acadia University.  She works with a broad range of clients in a creative capacity, providing writing services, writing workshops, coaching and mentoring.

• Amy Jo Ehman

  Saskatoon, SK

  After a career in broadcasting at the CBC, Amy Jo turned to freelance writing in 2000. Corporate work pays the bills, but freelance journalism fuels her curious and creative urges. She is a food columnist at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, which bubbled over into the book, Prairie Feast: A Writer’s Journey Home for Dinner. Loves reporting on courtroom dramas for their humanity (The Queen vs. Robert Latimer; Percy Schmeiser vs. Monsanto) and new agricultural achievements for their novelty (lemons for the prairies!). Recent assignments: How is technology changing the practice of law? and Why is Saskatchewan booming while its neighbour isn’t?

• Jeff Gailus

  Canmore, Alberta

  For the past 15 years, Jeff Gailus has been writing about science, nature and the people and politics that determine its fate. An award-winning writer from Calgary, Alberta, he is the author of The Grizzly Manifesto (Rocky Mountain Books, 2010) and numerous magazine articles.  He has also worked with a number of non-profit organizations, including the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, David Suzuki Foundation, Natural Resources Defence Council, TELUS World of Science — Calgary, and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

  His work has been acknowledged for a number of awards, including Story of the Year from the Associated Collegiate Press, numerous nominations for magazine feature writing at the western Canada and national levels, and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. He also received a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship, awarded each year to support “future conservation leaders.”

  He has taught writing at both the University of Oregon and the University of Montana, where he completed an M.Sc. in Environmental Studies. He currently lives in Canmore, Alberta.

• Don Genova

  Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia

  Don Genova is a writer and broadcaster currently based in BC, and has worked in Alberta, Ontario and Newfoundland. He has a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo and Master in Food Culture from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy. A former CBC Radio host, producer and reporter, Don is most known for his "Pacific Palate" and "Food For Thought" food columns heard across Canada and he also works in print, online and television.  Don teaches food and travel writing courses at UBC, and food culture and cooking classes at a variety of outlets in Victoria.

• Don Gillmor

  Toronto, ON

  Don Gillmor is the author of a two-volume history of Canada, Canada: A People’s History, and two other books of non-fiction, The Desire of Every Living Thing and I Swear by Apollo. He has also written eight books for children, including The Fabulous Song, which won the Mr. Christie Award and was nominated for a Governor General’s Award, and Yuck, A Love Story. His children’s books have been published in eight countries. He has worked as a journalist and was a senior editor at Walrus magazine, and contributing editor at both Saturday Night and Toronto Life. His journalism has appeared in those publications as well as The Globe and Mail, Rolling Stone, and GQ magazines. He has won nine National Magazine Awards. His novel, Kanata, was published by Penguin last year.

  He lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

• Malwina Gudowska

  Calgary, Alberta

  Malwina Gudowska is an award-winning journalist who contributes to a variety of online and print publications. After a stint as an associate editor for Avenue, Calgary’s city magazine, she was the inaugural Alberta editor for FASHION before launching the Calgary edition of VitaminDaily.com. She has also moulded impressionable minds as an instructor at the University of Calgary and often appears on television and radio providing commentary on lifestyle trends. In addition to freelance writing, she is also currently a city editor for Canadian online lifestyle guide Sweetspot.ca.

• Marjorie Harris

  Toronto, ON

  Marjorie is a garden writer, blogger, newsletter writer, Globe and Mail garden columnist and a garden designer.  In a past life, she was an editor at Gardening Life and Chatelaine in addition to being a columnist for House & Home.

• Darrell Harvey

  Ottawa, ON

  Darrell is a writer, editor and broadcaster who produces features and documentaries for English-language media outlets around the world. He has travelled widely, spending much of the past decade reporting from Europe, Africa and Latin America, writing about everything from urban farming and Romanian gold mines to locked-out NHLers and, perhaps his favourite, Hungary's Whiskey Robber, the post-Communist country's own scotch-swilling, bank robbing Robin Hood. Darrell also operates his own audio production company and does communications work for corporate, academic and non-profit clients.

• David Hayes

  Toronto, ON

  David Hayes is an award-winning freelance journalist, author, editor and teacher. A generalist, his special areas of interest are culture, media, social issues and advertising/marketing/branding. A long-time instructor, later faculty member, at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism, today he teaches Advanced Feature Writing in Ryerson’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Studies. He also has lectured and given workshops on various aspects of writing and journalism to a variety of organizations.

• Robert Hercz

  Toronto, ON

  Robert earned a degree in engineering at the University of Toronto in 1979 and spent a decade in the computer industry, based in London (England), Toronto, and finally Los Angeles. During this time, he worked with a fascinating range of clients including the Vatican, the Los Alamos National Laboratories (home of the atomic bomb), and the National Library of France. Finding himself more interested in his clients’ backstories than their computer systems (and unfulfilled by corporate life), he became a full-time writer in 1990. Robert is also an avid photographer and regularly sells photos that illustrate his writing.

• Paul Johnston

  Toronto, ON

  In his relatively short freelance career, Toronto-based journalist Paul Johnston has written on topics including resource warfare in the Congo, the impact of counterfeiting on the Canadian economy and the resurgence of puppetry as an art form in mainstream media for publications ranging from the Toronto Star and Sharp to Vice.

  His interviews and profile pieces have examined individuals ranging from Canadian athletes and celebrities to adult talent agency owners and Kids Help Phone counsellors.

  A graduate of Acadia University and Centennial College's Fast Track Journalism program, he most recently worked as news editor at Post City Magazines in Toronto.

• Ilona Kauremszky

  Toronto, ON

  Follow your dream job. That’s what travel journalist Ilona Kauremszky has been pursuing full-time for 10-plus years.  Ilona travels the world and reports on destinations and the next big travel trend for major publications across North America. She works with leading guidebook companies, writes a weekly travel column and co-produces mycompass.ca and its digital tv channel, mycompasstv. A consummate traveler who enjoys meeting new cultures and people, Ilona has ample story ideas to suit any publication. She’s worked with blue-chip companies, custom publishers, and tourism boards and is actively working with digital media.

• Jeremy Klaszus

  Calgary, Alberta

  Jeremy Klaszus is an Alberta journalist who has won multiple national and regional magazine awards for his work. He ghostwrote Ian Tyson’s bestselling 2010 memoir, The Long Trail: My Life in the West, for Random House Canada. Jeremy freelances for publications including Swerve, Reader’s Digest and the Globe and Mail. He also writes a twice-a-month column for the Calgary Herald, and works as a part-time journalism instructor at Mount Royal University. In 2009, Jeremy’s award-winning story “Mr. Tree” was published in the anthology Cabin Fever: The Best New Canadian Non-Fiction (Thomas Allen).

• Nick Krewen

  Toronto, ON

  Over 32 years, Nick Krewen has written about entertainment for newspapers and magazines in Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand; interviewed Bob Dylan, Prince and Phil Collins; reviewed music (CDs and concerts), books, movies and DVDs; had his articles referenced in books about Shania Twain, Bob Dylan and country music; written sparkling copy for major corporations like General Motors, Universal Music and CARAS; edited Juno Award and CCMA souvenir programs; and written about romance, the environment, humour and consumerism.

  Praised for clean copy, accuracy, and an ability to clarify complex issues, this recently published author is also house trained.

• Christine Langlois

  Toronto, ON

  Christine Langlois is a widely published magazine writer with a talent for narrative and experience writing everything from features to personal essays to service. Christine specializes in health and medical pieces but regularly covers a wide range of topics. She’s the author on one book, lead author on another and editor of a three-book series. To promote her books and articles, Christine has given speeches, done book tours, and made numerous radio and television appearances. Christine also writes and edits copy, and manages communications projects for a roster of corporate and government clients. Her website can be viewed at http://www.christinelanglois.com/.

• Benjamin Leszcz

  London, UK

  Benjamin Leszcz is a freelance writer and editor living in London, UK. Leszcz worked as an associate editor at Saturday Night, once Canada’s oldest consumer magazine, and Toro, a men’s magazine where he edited the style section, before joining enRoute, Air Canada’s in-flight magazine, as senior editor. Most recently, Leszcz co-launched the award-winning online men’s magazine DailyXY.com.

• Brooke Lockyer

  Toronto, Ontario

  Brooke Lockyer’s short stories, copywriting, reviews, and features on contemporary culture and the arts have been published in numerous publications in Canada, England, and the United States. A graduate from Columbia University (BA) and the University of Toronto (MA), she has also mentored children, teens, and women in literacy and creative writing programs such as Let’s Get Ready, Neighbourhood Diaries, and Sister Writes. An intrepid traveler with a penchant for adventure, Brooke has penned rejection letters for Esquire magazine in New York City, taught high school English in rural Japan, and participated in fiction workshops in Kenya, Bristol, and Montreal.

• Jason McBride

  Toronto, ON

  Jason McBride is a former editor at Toronto Life and Coach House Books, where he was co-editor of the popular uTOpia series, among other books. He is currently a full-time freelance writer and editor.

• Paul McLaughlin

  Toronto, ON

  Paul is a highly experienced writer, communications specialist, interviewing and performance trainer and university teacher. He writes for both the journalism and corporate markets, and has produced virtually every kind of publication (as well as a few videos), including magazine and newspaper features, books, scripts, trade articles (ghosted at times), brochures, ad campaigns and plays.

  The author of Asking Questions: The Art of the Media Interview, he’s trained interviewers at the CBC and in private practice, and has lectured extensively on interviewing.

  He teaches in the Professional Writing program at York University, and previously at the schools of journalism at Ryerson and Carleton universities.

• Jesse McLean

  Toronto, ON

  Jesse McLean is an award-winning humorist and culture commentator whose disciplines include technical writing, screenwriting, film and television criticism, humour articles and sketch comedy.  These varied talents conspire to deliver incisive, thoughtful and creative copy.  He has written process documentation for BMO, dialogue punch-up for Joe Flaherty and Brigitte Nielsen, ruminations on Wilhelm Reich’s “orgone accumulator” for PopMatters, how Rainer Maria Rilke might have negotiated Facebook for Yankee Pot Roast, and the inherent difficulties interviewing zombies for Eyes on Toronto with Stephen Eyes. Impromptu dance numbers lack technical grace but brim with “pizzazz”.

• Jeff Nield

  Vancouver, BC and Calgary, AB

  Jeff Nield is an award-winning writer specializing in profiles, food and beverage, agriculture and sustainability pieces. He has written about his junior high school guidance counselor/convicted pedophile for The Walrus, social entrepreneurs in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side for BC Business, and BC’s food history for The Tyee.  He triangulates his time between Calgary, Vancouver, and Nelson. He spent 15 years writing proposals, press releases and stakeholder communications for BC-based non-profits including the 100 Mile Diet Society, FarmFolkCityFolk, Local Food First and Vancouver Food Policy Organization.

• Genevieve Paiement

  Montreal, PQ

  Genevieve is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years’ experience specializing in travel, food and other lifestyle topics. She has lived and worked in Sydney, London and Paris, and writes mainly for magazines, newspapers and the Web. Whether investigating green architecture in Las Vegas for the Globe and Mail or interviewing Gordon Ramsay about his Montreal chicken shop for the New York Times, Genevieve brings a sense of irreverence and an eye for detail. She lives in Montreal with her husband and son.

• Diane Peters

  Toronto, ON

  Diane is a full-time freelance writer and part-time journalism instructor. To all her work she brings creative story ideas, strong research skills, top-notch writing and curiosity for new topics. Her extensive experience writing health and science stories, and for the children’s book market, have given her additional skills in making dense material a great read.

• Adrien Sala

  Victoria, BC

  Adrien Sala is a freelance writer/broadcaster with a background in radio, print, and new media.

  Currently, Adrien works as producer, story developer and co-director of a television documentary series (15 episodes) that explores the meaning of home to the people who live in BC’s north. He is also the owner of Adrien Sala Writing & Media, a dynamic communications office that includes Shoebox Studio, a sound studio designed specifically for radio voice work and podcasting.

  Adrien has long had a fascination with people and places, and he continues to be interested in new methods of telling stories.

• Ingrid Sapona

  Toronto, ON

  Ingrid’s been making complex business information clear since 1997. She has a journalism degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from Case Western Reserve University and belongs to the New York and Ontario bars. It was while practicing law that she realized she has a special talent for making complicated, technical information understandable.

  Ingrid works with professionals and business leaders, creating communications that satisfy strategic business and regulatory requirements. Using plain language principles, she measures success by whether people understand the issue or idea the first time the read it because if they do, they’re more likely to act on it.

  She writes a regular column called “Writer’s Edge” that appears in The Business Valuator, a quarterly publication of the CICBV.

• Alec Scott

  Toronto, ON, San Francisco

  Alec Scott is a writer specializing in the arts, travel and the law. He worked as Toronto Life magazine's arts columnist for several years, writing about painters, dancers, composers, film directors, impresarios, novelists, actors, playwrights and one puppeteer. For work, he has travelled to many places including Australia, Germany, the Shetland Islands and California. Before going into journalism, he worked as a lawyer, practicing defamation and air law, and continued to write about developments in the law, interesting lawyers and prominent cases. He has also worked as an editor for Saturday Night and Toronto Life and a producer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

• Christopher Shulgan

  Toronto, ON

  Christopher Shulgan is the author of two books and a contributor of essays and research-intensive feature articles to numerous magazines and newspapers in Canada and the United States. He writes a parenting column for Eye Weekly and blogs frequently at www.shulgan.com. Shulgan also is an accomplished ghostwriter who can mold his writing to fit the narrative voice of any number of anonymous clients on Bay Street and in corporate Canada.

• Jay Somerset

  Toronto, ON

  Writer, editor, proofreader and copywriter—Jay Somerset has been dealing in words for nearly 10 years. Articles have ranged from an etiquette guide to Toronto to a five-part newspaper series on a Toronto advertising company to an essay on the aesthetics of AM radio. As well, Jay also has ample editing experience. Besides journalism, he also works as an advertising copywriter. He holds two university degrees, is a board member for two arts organizations and enjoys solo camping and collecting weird records.

• Heidi Sopinka

  Toronto, ON

  Heidi Sopinka is a Toronto-based writer and editor who is also the thousandth woman in the world to earn a helicopter pilot license. In 2007, she wrote “Footprint,” a weekly column for The Globe and Mail that dealt with ecological issues translated to the realm of the everyday. She writes and edits for newspapers and magazines on culture, social issues, and the environment, and is currently working on her first novel.

• Grant B. Stoddard

  Vancouver, BC and Whistler, BC

  Subcultures, pop culture, sex/relationships, nascent trends and eccentric characters are all grist for British-born Grant Stoddard’s mill. With an eye for the surprising and ridiculous, Stoddard often reports from a participatory perspective; imbuing his stories with an engaging, visceral, dynamic feel and a humanistic focus. Working in newspapers, magazines, blogs, books, film, music, television and theatre has given Stoddard a vast spectrum of experience in working with different clients with wildly varying aesthetic requirements.

• Masa Takei

  Vancouver, BC

  Masa Takei is a freelance writer based in Vancouver, BC. Publications he’s written for include Canadian Geographic, explore Magazine, and The Globe and Mail. His writing interests range from outdoor (mis)adventure, travel and subcultures to, apparently, structuring narrative arcs for mutant mercenaries and half-vampires.

• Micah Toub

  Toronto, ON and New York, NY

  Micah Toub is a writer living in Toronto. His first book, Growing Up Jung: Coming of Age as the Son of Two Shrinks, was published this year. After graduating from McGill University, Toub worked in public relations in New York before moving into editorial at an art magazine. In 2002, he moved to Toronto, where he was an editor at Toro Magazine and then at The Globe and Mail’s weekend Globe Toronto section. Recently, Toub has been writing "The Other Half," a biweekly relationship column from a male perspective for The Globe and Mail, as well as blogging for Psychology Today.

• Chris Turner

  Calgary, Alberta

  Chris Turner is an award-winning journalist and one of Canada's leading writers and speakers on climate change, sustainability and the global cleantech industry. He is the author of the bestseller The Geography of Hope (2007), a Globe & Mail Best Book of the Year and a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Nonfiction and the National Business Book Award. He is also the author of the international bestseller Planet Simpson (2004). He is at work on a new book about the global sustainability movement, which will be published in 2011.

• Anna-Kaisa Walker

  Toronto, ON

  Anna-Kaisa is a Toronto-based writer, researcher and editor. Born in Montreal, she has a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University, and in her five years as a freelancer, she has contributed a wide variety of work to Canadian, U.S. and international publications.

Our Portfolio

©2010 Canadian Writers Group.