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• 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.

• Erica Alini

  Toronto, ON

  Erica Alini is a Toronto-based journalist at Maclean’s, where she focuses on international politics and business, but also pens the occasional culture and society feature. She has written for The Wall Street Journal’s economics desk, and Foreign Policy magazine, among other media outlets, and for the Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank based in New York.

  She grew up in Milan, Italy, and is bilingual. She has a master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, in Washington, DC. She has also lived in Iran and speaks, reads, and writes intermediate-level Farsi.

• Jason Anderson

  Toronto, ON

  Raised in Calgary and based in Toronto, Jason Anderson is a freelance arts journalist, a novelist and one of the country’s most prominent film critics. Besides writing extensively about the arts for a wide array of Canadian and international publications, he teaches at the University of Toronto and is the programming director for the Kingston Canadian Film Festival.

• 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.

• Ryan Bigge

  Toronto, ON

  Ryan Bigge is an award-winning cultural journalist with over 15 years of writing and editing experience, specializing in technology, cultural trends and humour pieces. His journalism and copywriting is characterized by precision, insight and creativity. He has written about virtual autopsies and uneavesdroppable conversations for the New York Times Magazine, the value of brevity and the history of Helvetica for the Toronto Star, and mocked male spas for Toronto Life. He has also provided copywriting services for clients such as Gillette and the Royal Bank of Canada.

• 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.

• Wendy Dennis

  Toronto, ON

  Wendy Dennis is an award-winning journalist and author with a uniquely personal voice who writes provocatively about social, psychological and cultural issues. Her writing is known for its wit, depth, insight and honesty. She has written about psychoanalysis for The Walrus and blogged about divorce for The Huffington Post, where her work has gone viral. Her widely discussed Toronto Life story, “The Divorce From Hell”, prompted a national debate. Dennis also writes copy (Butterfield & Robinson), and speeches for special occasions (from CEO remarks to wedding toasts). Her speechwriting services can be found at crowdpleasercommunications.com.  Her journalism can be found at wendydennis.com and huffingtonpost.com.

• 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?

• Christopher Frey

  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Toronto, Canada

  Christopher Frey is a print and radio journalist who writes about culture, politics, environment and technology in a globalizing world. A two-time National Magazine Award winner, in recent years he has reported from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Ghana, Cuba, Guyana, Guatemala and Brazil.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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”.

• Patricia Pearson

  Toronto, ON

  A versatile writer across media and styles, Pearson is particularly well-known for her comic flair. She has been called “highly amusing” by the New York Times, and been compared to Dorothy Parker and Mark Twain. Clients have tapped her for speeches, screenplays and articles that require a comedic touch. As a serious journalist, Pearson specializes in health and social issues, and with a graduatelevel background in history, clients have hired her for corporate and personal biographies.

• Paolo Pietropaolo

  Vancouver, BC

  Paolo is an award-winning writer, broadcaster, composer and documentary producer. His work has been recognized with a Peabody Award and the Prix Italia, two of the highest accolades in journalism, along with many other awards. His radio documentaries have been broadcast around the world, and Paolo’s voice has been heard regularly on CBC Radio since 2001. Paolo is a Jack Webster Fellow, a Banff Centre Science Communications Program alumnus, and a member of the British Council’s Transatlantic Network 2020. Prior to his radio and writing career, Paolo toured extensively as taiko drummer and percussionist with a taiko ensemble in Toronto.

• Paul Russell

  Toronto, ON

  Paul Russell has worked as a writer and marketing and communications consultant since 1993. He has an English degree from the University of Western Ontario and a law degree from the University of Toronto. His legal practice from 1988 to 1992 was in the group benefits and pension area, providing him with extensive expertise in the areas of human resources, retirement savings, investments, pensions, personal tax, and estate planning.

  Paul’s marketing and communications work supports the initiatives of a wide range of organizations – from banks and insurance companies, to professional services firms, to hospitality and entertainment companies.

• 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.

• Rachel Sanders

  Vancouver, BC

  Rachel Sanders is a Vancouver writer, broadcaster and photographer. She has a keen sense of story and a passion for seeking out hidden gems and unappreciated works of genius. Born and raised in Edmonton, she moved in 1999 to Vancouver, where she freelances for a variety of media, corporate, and PR clients. In 2006, she co-wrote and worked as stills photographer on the short film, “Swimming Lessons,” which was nominated for Best Short at the Hollywood Film Fest. Her current focus is writing and producing documentaries for CBC Radio.

• 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.

• Denis Seguin

  Toronto, ON

  An award-winning journalist and filmmaker, Denis Seguin has been writing about what interests him in such publications as The Walrus and The Globe and Mail in Canada, Slate in the US and The Times and The Guardian in the UK. He wrote and co-produced the feature documentary How to Start Your Own Country, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. As well, he co-wrote the feature documentary 100 Films And A Funeral, the story of the first Hollywood film studio not run from Hollywood. His short film, It’s My Right, won the $10,000 first prize in Canadian Film Centre’s 2010 Reel Challenge.

• 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.

• Russell Smith

  Toronto, ON

  Russell Smith is a specialist in contemporary art, literature and urban culture. His articles have been published in most Canadian and several U.S. journals. He currently writes two weekly columns for The Globe and Mail, one on culture, the other on style. He was the host and writer of the popular CBC Radio 1 program on language, “And Sometimes Y”, for two seasons. He is a co-founder of the online men’s magazine DailyXY.com. He is also novelist: his fiction has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Rogers Fiction Prize and the City Of Toronto Book Award. He won a National Magazine Award for fiction in 1997. His most recent novel is Girl Crazy.

• 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.

• 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.

• Ellen Vanstone

  Toronto, ON

  Ellen Vanstone is an award-winning journalist and screenwriter. She is a co-creator and co-executive producer of the Global/ABC series Rookie Blue, 2010 summer’s top scripted drama in both Canada and the U.S. She was a Gemini-nominated co-writer on the Ken Finkleman series At The Hotel. As well as writing, Ellen is one of the top “go-to” contract editors in Canadian journalism. She has been Weekend editor at the National Post, acting editor of the Toronto Sunday Star, Science & Ideas editor in The Globe and Mail’s Saturday Focus section, and senior editor at The Walrus.

• Joanne Will

  Vancouver, BC

  Joanne writes a weekly column for The Globe and Mail, and a regular column for tidings magazine. She has covered stories for many publications, such as the Tyee’s 100-Mile-Diet inspired Eat Your History series. Joanne has also profiled a wide range of notable Canadians, including innovative sustainable farmers, a booker-prize winning author, and a renowned musician and producer.

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