Winnipeg writer katherena vermette appointed senior editor at Simon & Schuster Canada
The acclaimed author will focus on titles celebrating Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+ and other underserved communities
katherena vermette is a Michif (Red River Métis) writer from Winnipeg best known for her bestselling novels The Break, The Strangers and The Circle that offer a glimpse into a Métis community in northern Winnipeg.
Now, she's taking on a new role that puts her on the other side of the publishing process, as a senior editor at Simon & Schuster Canada.
She'll be primarily working on fiction and nonfiction titles for both adults and children that celebrate Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+ and other underserved communities.
"I want to find these voices and find these stories and help bring them out to the world," said vermette in an interview with CBC Books.
vermette has worked as an editor and a mentor on various projects throughout her career and is thrilled to take it on in an official role.
"It's very different from a lot of things I've done, but it's also the same. It's working with books and working with authors. And I love doing that. I love helping books come into the world," she said.
"What better work is there than to help people find their stories?"
What better work is there than to help people find their stories?- katherena vermette
As a writer, vermette loves working with editors. "I always learned something about myself and the story," she said — and she's hoping to offer that same help to the authors at Simon & Schuster.
She's also drawn to the collaboration that editing requires, which is different from the largely solitary task of writing a book.
"Editing in particular, it's such an intimate collaboration," said vermette. "You're really working with someone's vision of their story and really trying to enhance things — enhance what they're trying to say and bring out things that maybe they didn't see."
Her first book, poetry collection North End Love Songs won the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.
The Break was a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. It was defended by Candy Palmater on Canada Reads 2017. The Strangers won the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and was longlisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Her other books include the poetry collection river woman and the four-book graphic novel series A Girl Called Echo. Her latest novel real ones comes out on Sept. 3, 2024.
vermette holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia. Her new role at Simon & Schuster Canada is effective immediately.
