Join us on May 28 for our Annual General Meeting, a branch business meeting, and what promises to be a stimulating panel discussion on barriers to entering the editing profession.
The business meeting and AGM will begin at 7 pm. The panel discussion will begin at 7:30 pm. We have the room until 9:30 pm, so please plan to stay and chat. We love to get to know our members!
Panel discussion
Breaking Down Barriers to a Career in Editing
When: Tuesday, May 28, 7–9:30 pm (business meeting and AGM first; panel starts at 7:30 pm)
Where: Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) Spadina, 192 Spadina Ave., Third Floor, Room F
Are you new to the field of editing? Have you struggled with impostor syndrome or faced other barriers to a full editing career? For the final branch meeting of 2018–19, we are pleased to present a panel discussion on common obstacles facing new editing professionals and the strategies organizations and individuals can use to break down those barriers. This program will explore how the industry can better welcome and recruit new talent, how organizations can combat ableism and improve access, what individual editors can do to gain a toehold in the editing and publishing industries, and related questions.
Gagandeep Bimbh will explore the subtle and not-so-subtle hiring biases that tend to exclude or marginalize immigrants or non-native English speakers and devalue the professional experiences of editors trained outside of Canada. He’ll discuss alternatives to the “one-to-two years’ experience” requirement found in many job ads for entry-level positions. And he’ll talk about how those responsible for hiring can make their applications and jobs more accessible to new members of the editing community, including non-native English speakers.
Jessica De Bruyn will discuss the challenges involved in being a newcomer within writing and editing communities. She’ll talk about impostor syndrome and propose strategies for establishing yourself and gaining the confidence needed to compete or work alongside those with much more experience. She’ll also address the business side of being a freelancer, from the perspective of a new editor just entering the field.
Ronan Sadler will discuss access to publishing and editing as well as ableism and accommodation within these fields. They will explore the roots of ableism, describe some of its subtly discriminatory forms, and propose steps to improve access during the hiring process and within the workplace.
Please join us for what will surely be an informative program of vital relevance for all in the industry, including new editorial professionals, those responsible for hiring, and more senior editors interested in supporting a thriving, equitable, and diverse editing community.
More about our speakers
Gagandeep Bimbh is a digital content strategist and editor who’s currently handling content initiatives at Digitally Savvy Inc. He is a student in Humber College’s Professional Writing and Communications program. Before immigrating to Canada last fall, he worked in Mumbai, specializing in cross-platform marketing content and editing niche communications material. His editorial career began as a copy editor at a start-up communications firm in Mumbai, where he worked through a diverse portfolio including branded and marketing content, educational and interactive learning content, and employer branding content. During his undergraduate years, he worked as an editor in the youth wing of a Rotary Club in Mumbai, editing and publishing interest-based stories on the English language, youth issues, and personal narratives.
Jessica De Bruyn has been working as a freelance editor for three years, mostly concentrating on fiction manuscript evaluations and agent/publisher submission packages. She is a graduate of the Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film, Television and Alternative Media program (now called Writing for Film, Television & Games) and holds degrees in theatre and music performance. Jessica is currently completing Ryerson University’s Publishing Certificate Program and the University of Toronto’s Creative Writing Certificate Program. She recently became the Editor-in-Residence for the So You Want to Write writers’ group and is a Senior Editor at The Rights Factory. She is also serving her fourth year as a judge for the Ink & Insights Writing Contest.
Ronan Sadler is a freelance editor specializing in developmental and line editing for popular fiction and memoir. They are currently a freelance acquiring editor with Harlequin’s Carina Press, where their focus is on expanding the diversity of the list. They co-edited Speculative Masculinities, an anthology that is forthcoming from Galli Books and that uses speculative fiction to explore alternative visions of masculinity. Before joining Carina, Ronan interned with two New York–based YA agents, where they worked on client manuscripts, some of which went on to secure major pre-empt deals. Ronan has a master’s degree in Critical Disability Studies from York University in Toronto. Their academic research focused on storytelling and life narrative in the context of medical trauma, and their work on environmental imperialism and war contaminants was published in the collected volume Disability Studies and the Environmental Humanities (University of Nebraska Press, 2017).
ENTER OUR RAFFLE! All proceeds go into our programs budget to help pay our speakers and provide professional development opportunities for our members.
Cost: $2 per ticket; $5 for three tickets; or $10 for seven tickets.
Prizes: A $25 gift card to Scarborough Town Centre, donated by Oxford Properties; a copy of Kristel Derkowski’s memoir Six Million Trees, donated by Rock’s Mills Press; a one-hour mentorship on any aspect of writing or editing with Editors Toronto co-chair Jennifer D. Foster; and a one-hour mentorship on any aspect of editing or publishing with Iguana Books president Greg Ioannou.
Program details for Tuesday, May 28, 7–9:30 pm
LOCATION: Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) Spadina, 192 Spadina Ave., Third Floor, Room F
7 pm Branch business meeting, including the AGM and elections for the 2019–20 branch executive committee
7:30 pm Introductory remarks
7:35 pm Program
8:30 pm Q&A, and raffle
9 pm Mix-and-mingle (we have the room until 9:30)
Free for members; $10 for non-members; $5 for student non-members.
Directions, parking, accessibility, and other details about the venue are available here and here (for accessibility details, scroll down to item number nine within the second link).
Trouble getting into the building? Text the programs chair at 647-607-0416, and we will send someone to open the front door.
ACCESSIBILITY: Please note that although the third floor of CSI Spadina is fully accessible, the building’s narrow elevator (30 inches wide) may not accommodate all mobility devices. Please contact the branch programs chair at [email protected] with any questions or concerns about accessibility at this meeting.
PLANNING AHEAD: Editors Toronto meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month, except in June, July, August, and December. Although this is our last meeting of the 2018–19 season, we are hard at work on an exciting slate of new programs for 2019–20. Our fall schedule includes a joint program with Authors–Toronto on editing for page and screen, and our October meeting will include a panel on editing graphic novels and cartoons.
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