Stephen Ullstrom
to break into the publishing world? With many companies operating on a shoe-string budget, it is notoriously difficult to land a paid job, though if you can somehow wedge your foot into that door, entry into the house no longer seems so impossible.
My break came through Canadian Literature’s long-standing commitment to hiring Arts Co-op students. With that, unknown to me until I had started working, in 2008, came the CanLit Tuition Award, a much appreciated contribution towards the tuition I was continuing to pay for part-time studies.
Because of that year I spent working for Canadian Literature—a year spent managing the book reviews and poetry, as well as having the chance to proofread the journal itself—I was able to land another Co-op job with UBC Press, to learn about academic publishing, and then with Harbour Publishing, to learn about the trade side, and where I continued to work after graduation.
Today, I have launched out on my own as a freelance indexer, proofreader, writer, and researcher, still working primarily for Harbour Publishing, Douglas & McIntyre, and UBC Press, but slowly gaining other clients too, such as Pacific Educational Press, Greystone Books, and Wilfrid Laurier University Press. It is rewarding work, continuing to work with Canadian literature and helping to bring worthy books to fruition. I could not have done it without Canadian Literature taking their chance on hiring me.