Book Publishing Freelancers from Diverse Communities Database

Clare Thorbes is a certified French to English translator, with more than 25 years of experience in translating government policy, business, legal and personal documents from French and Spanish to English. Her translation of Capital coolinaire, an essay by Nora Bouazzouni, was published in issue 94 of Ellipse Magazine. Her non-fiction translations include a theologian’s book on an ancient artifact and its sequel. She was a founding board member of the Victoria Interpreters’ and Translators’ Association (VITA), where she managed multilingual translation projects. Clare is also a freelance editor, former co-owner of a small press, and a published writer, with essays in three anthologies on creativity: Inside Creativity Coaching and The Creativity Workbook for Coaches and Creatives, both edited by Eric Maisel, PhD, and The Coach’s Guide to Completing Creative Work, edited by Eric Maisel and Lynda Monk. Email: clarethorbes217@gmail.com

Lesbian feminist anti-racist killjoy with experience in educational publishing (textbooks) and other non-fiction.

I am a Toronto-based freelance editor with experience in proofreading, copy editing, and supplement creation/editing, particularly in Higher Education publishing. I am a graduate of the Innis College Writing and Rhetoric program at the University of Toronto, and I have over one year’s experiencing working in-house as an editorial assistant at a reference publisher.

I am a chronically ill, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse woman, and I have experience working on projects related to chronic illness/disability, sexuality and gender, and intersectionality. I am also particularly experienced in and interested in taking on projects related to the social sciences, humanities, Indigenous studies, criminology, education and pedagogy, research design, social work, early childhood education, and health studies.

Email: sarahtooleyeditor@gmail.com

My experience is in academic editing/publishing. I specialise in papers/documents from the economics and management fields. I’m adept at formatting for journal submissions. I also have considerable experience working with students and their statements of purpose, admissions essays, etc.

Email: draftedservices@outlook.com

I am a bi/queer woman living and working in Kjuptuk/Halifax. I am an artist and I have a background in political organizing. I am now working as a graphic designer and bring my experience organizing people and campaigns and trying to get a message across along with formal art training to graphic design. I am an illustrator and designer and recently graduated from the NCSS Graphic Design program.

Email: sarah.trower@gmail.com

I’m a theologian of disability, liturgist, and poet from Prince Edward Island, Canada. I specialize in proofreading, line editing, and copy editing. I’ve edited some short stories, and self-published “Contours of Eternity,” a book of poetry (2013); I’ve also published a devotional booklet on “Disability, Faith, and Justice” through the Student Christian Movement of Canada (2016), co-written and -edited a Guide for Accessible Congregations through the Ontario College of Art and Design (2018), and published three academic articles through the Political Theology Network (2019), the Journal of Religion and Disability (2019), and the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2020).

Yilin Wang (she/they) is a queer Chinese Canadian writer, poet, editor, and literary translator. Her speculative and literary fiction, poetry, and translations have appeared in many journals, including Clarkesworld, Fantasy Magazine, Words Without Borders, POETRY, Guernica, The Mahalat Review, CV2, and elsewhere. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and is a member of the 2021 class of the Clarion West Writers Workshop.

She is currently the co-editor-in-chief of the slice-of-life fantasy magazine Tales & Feathers, and has been an editor for Room Magazine and guest edited Strange Horizons’ Wuxia and Xianxia Special Issue. As a substantive editor, she specializes in speculative fiction, poetry, and graphic novels. As a sensitivity reader/editor, she specializes in Chinese Canadian and diaspora representation, history, folklore, and popular culture, and has also used her bilingual skills to complete Mandarin Chinese and Pinyin copyediting. Her clients include publishers and game studios such as Penguin Random House (adult and children imprints), HarperCollins, Candlewick, Douglas and McIntyre, Brace Yourself Games, and Devolver Digital Games.

As a translator from Chinese to English, she specializes in translating speculative fiction, poetry, picture books, and graphic novels. She the translator of the poetry anthology The Lantern and the Night Nights (Invisible Publishing, 2024), and has completed translation work or consultations for the Writer’s Union’s Write Magazine, the Canada Council for the Arts, UNIT/PITT Society for Art & Critical Awareness, and elsewhere.

Email: yilinw@gmail.com

Originally a shy and awkward biracial adoptee, Stephanie is now one of those people who, as soon as you meet her, you’ll feel joy around. She graduated from Langara College (Digital & Print Publications, Dean’s Honour Roll) and recently from Simon Fraser University (Editing Certificate). Last summer, she published her first children’s book – Septopus.

Stephanie’s love for literature has lingered and will always be a labour of love. Try saying that ten times fast!

Today, she writes, edits, and creates in Victoria, B.C. Never boring, often unconventional, but always engaging, Stephanie enjoys empowering other creatives in various capacities.

Email: stephanie@watterson.ca

Natalie Wee is an editor with over six years of experience as a developmental editor, copy editor, and proofreader at publishing houses, magazines, and journals. She has worked on a wide range of projects ranging from poetry, genre and literary fiction, non-fiction, young adult, kidlit, and journalism / news. Her editorial clients and work include Penguin Random House, Counterpoint Press, Arsenal Pulp Press, Annick Press, and Sourcebooks.

Previously, Natalie served as the poetry editor for LooseLeaf Magazine, a magazine for pan-Asian creatives. She is especially interested in continuing to work with communities of colour, especially queer writers of colour. She also wrote two poetry collections, Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines (San Press, 2021) and Beast at Every Threshold (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022), which was named a Lambda finalist for Lesbian Poetry.

Email: natalieweewrites@gmail.com

I am a writer and editor based out of Toronto, Ontario. I have won awards for fiction, short fiction, and screenwriting, including the Friends of Merril Short Story Contest and ECW Press’s Best New Speculative Novel Contest. For seven years I served as co-publisher and co-EIC of the Ignyte- and British Fantasy Award-nominated Anathema: Spec from the Margins. My writing credits include myriad online and in-print publications and anthologies. As an editor, I have worked with Drawn & Quarterly, Chizine Publications, Broken River Books, ARP Books, Wolsak & Wynn, Arsenal Pulp Press, ECW Press, Playrights Canada, Freehand Books, Book*hug Press, Green Ronin Press, UBC Press, NeWest Press, and Wattpad. I am also on the editorial advisory board for Poplar Press, the speculative fiction imprint of Wolsak & Wynn. Books I’ve worked on have taken home numerous awards, including the Sunburst Awards, the Eisner Awards, and the Shirley Jackson Awards. Books of mine include The Death Scene Artist (Buckrider Books, 2018) and Withered (ECW Press, 2024).

Areas of expertise: Visual Art; Music; Film; Eating Disorders/Body Dysmorphia; Mental Health; LGBTQIA2S Issues (incl. Gender Dysphoria, Asexuality, Trans/Nonbinary Representation).

Email: carnivorousminds@gmail.com