Speakers

Aalap (he/il) is an editor of exclusively non-fiction material. He edits textbooks and learning materials for the skilled trades as well as other adult educational content. He also edits scholarly and trade books and academic content in the fields of economics, international relations, business studies and social, economic and legal history.

Aalap is a Certified Proofreader and an active member of Editors Canada. He is also an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP).

Adrienne Montgomerie’s entire 30-year editing career has been spent freelancing full-time. They now complement their editing business with teaching editing at several Canadian universities and with the publication of self-study courses on Editing in Word, PDF markup for proofreaders, and Getting the Numbers Right. 

Adrienne is best known online as SciEditor in The Quad for their work in knowledge transfer in STEM contexts and is known among editors as the one who champions having a ballpark estimate at the ready and that there are human limits to error detection. When not at the desk, Adrienne is found sea kayaking around eastern Ontario—where there is as much water as there is land—and testing standup routines. 

Alicia Chantal (she/her) is an editing consultant and owner of Fresh Look Editing, based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is passionate about helping individuals and organizations create messages that educate and empower. Alicia specializes in non-fiction copyediting, proofreading, and authenticity reading, and has a background in public relations. She was a member of Editors Canada’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion task force, and is currently co-coordinator of Cloud Club West for the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading. She is also a 2024 Richard S. Holden Diversity Fellowship recipient.

When not at her desk, Alicia can be found spending time with her family, reading, or watching a good show.

Andrew Hodges, PhD, is a developmental editor and stylistic editor specializing in speculative fiction and in cultural anthropology through The Narrative Craft. Andy has worked with New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, Hugo Award finalists, and internationally recognized writers and scholars. 

Andy especially enjoys editing YA and literary fantasy, and fiction centring marginalized voices. They deliver editorial workshops across Europe, and their own YA and literary speculative writing has appeared in Asymptote Journal and Foofaraw.

Christina M. Frey is an editor, literary coach, and editing instructor (pagetwoeditorial.com) and served as co-executive of the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) for six years. She specializes in helping both novice and experienced writers to develop and refine their authorial voice. 

Erin Brenner (she/her) is the author of The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors: How to Take Care of Your Business, Your Clients, and Yourself from Start-Up to Sustainability (University of Chicago Press, 2024) and coauthor of Marketing Yourself: Strategies to Promote Your Editorial Business (CIEP, 2024). She coaches freelance editors on the business side of their work: pricing, client mix, systems, and growth. Beginning in November 2026, she will teach copyediting for the University of Chicago. Erin also runs Right Touch Editing, the boutique editing agency she founded in 2005, where she leads a team of eight editors. 

A frequent conference speaker, she received the Robinson Prize, the editor-of-the-year award given annually by ACES, in 2024. She is a full member of ACES: The Society for Editing. When she isn’t working, she enjoys hiking, knitting, and reading. Find her on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Laura Burge is a fiction editor, writing coach, and author. She's worked on hundreds of books with publishers and indie authors with services ranging from coaching and developmental editing to line editing and proofreading. While she’s worked with many genres, she specializes in speculative fiction and anything with a hint of weird. 

As a neurodivergent person and advocate, she loves working with neurodivergent writers to dive into the ways they can tell their own stories and find their processes. She also has online courses for writers and editors available. 

Laura is a co-founder of Wholehearted Writers LLC, an organization that invites writers to bring their whole selves to online writing events, including our annual Wholehearted Writers Week. 

When not diving into stories, Laura enjoys wandering through forests, creating spooky baked goods, and powerlifting with other oddballs. She now lives in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Lourdes Venard has more than 40 years in the writing/editing field. She has worked at several major newspapers and an education nonprofit as an editor, has edited over 200 novels as a freelance book editor, and is co-lead instructor of University of California San Diego Extended Studies’ copyediting certificate program. Along with colleague Christine Steele, she has written The Collaborative Editor: How to Build Trust Through Queries and Other Communications (Spring 2027, The University of Chicago Press). 

Marieke Krijnen (she/her) is an academic copyeditor who started her own business after leaving academia in 2017. She helps scholars in the social sciences and humanities express their ideas in clear, consistent and precise terms and enjoys editing their reference lists. She received extensive training in copyediting and is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and a member of ACES: The Society for Editing. She obtained an MA in Middle East Studies from the American University of Beirut and a PhD in Political Science from Ghent University, Belgium. 

Nadia is the CEO and co-founder of Pique Publishing, Inc.—an editorial and graphic design consultancy that specializes in content development from ideation to distribution for both digital and print publications. She is the podcast host of The Editor’s Half Hour—a monthly podcast that focuses on the craft of editing, industry trends, and editorial resources for advanced editors—and a guest speaker at the University of Chicago. She is the most recent recipient of the Robinson Prize (April 2026), the industry’s highest honour in the United States, bestowed by ACES: The Society for Editing. She currently serves on the Board of Governors at the University Club San Diego and is the committee chair of the Women’s Impact Network (WIN). In 2023, she was named a winner of the 40 Next Top Business Leaders Under 40 and Business Women of the Year (small companies category) by the San Diego Business Journal. 

Sara finds joy in working with authors from diverse backgrounds to develop and hone their unique voice in English. A former language teacher with a PhD in literary translation, she specializes in editing and translating texts across the humanities and social sciences. Her translation of Hiroshi Mitani’s Japan’s Meiji Revolution: Restoration and Reform in a Global Context (Springer) will be published in 2026.

Sara has presented at professional and academic conferences in Australia, Japan, India, and the UK. For the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, she was the co-chair of Standing Committee on Professional Development, and a judge for the Rosanne Fitzgibbon Editorial Award. She is now a judge for World History Encyclopedia’s Ink of Ages Fiction Prize.

As honing her human skills has become a priority in this AI era, Sara has been fine-tuning her nose and palate with the Wine Spirits Education Trust (WSET). She has (so far) studied German, Mandarin, Italian, Russian, French, Spanish, and Ancient Greek, but she also enjoys chatting with the wild animals who visit her outdoor office in Melbourne, Australia.