Editor helped shape generations of writers
Publisher Ellen Seligman worked with Canada’s most influential authors
Ellen Seligman was one of the bestknown names in Canadian literature, but not because of its place on book covers.
Instead, Seligman was famous for what went onto the pages in between. She was an editor and publisher who helped shape generations of Canadian writers.
She died on Friday. Seligman’s family asked that her age and details surrounding her death not be made public.
“Though we are in the business of words, I find it next to impossible to express the grief I know we all feel with the loss of this incomparable woman,” wrote Penguin Random House Canada president and publisher, Kristin Cochrane, in a state- ment to colleagues.
Born and raised in New York City, Seligman earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Wisconsin before returning to her hometown to begin a career in publishing.
She came to Canada in 1976 and joined publishing powerhouse McClelland & Stewart, where she became the editorial director of fiction and eventually publisher.
During her time in Toronto, Seligman grew to be one of Canada’s top literary editors and worked with some of the country’s most influential authors including Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen and Michael Ondaatje.
She edited many of Canada’s most celebrated books including 23 titles that won the Governor General’s Literary award and published books by Nobel Prize-winning writer Alice Munro.
“All of us lucky enough to work with Ellen will have been inspired by the energy, creativity, elegance, and in- telligence she brought to everything she did,” wrote Cochrane. “She worked to the highest of standards, raising the game for everyone around her, all the while sharing her love of publishing.”
Known for supporting and developing new Canadian voices, Seligman was mourned by many on social media who used adjectives an editor would appreciate, like “giant,” “force” and “gift” to describe her work and the impact it had.
According to Sonnet L’Abbé, a Canadian poet, it was Seligman’s calm voice, calling over the phone, which launched many literary careers.
“I’ll never forget when Ellen called my house,” she wrote in an email to the Star. “‘I’m calling,’ she said, with that dry, sophisticated flat tone she had, ‘to make your year.’ She was calling to tell me that McClelland & Stewart would publish my first book.”
Novelist Madeleine Thien also shared memories of Seligman’s phone calls. After hearing the news of her death she posted a message she wrote for Seligman a few years ago on Facebook.
In it she describes the special relationship that exists between an author and publisher after spending hours on the phone working with manuscripts.
“Through the pressure of her in- quiries, I see the rips in the netting, the dangerous scaffolding,” she wrote. “Sometimes I imagine that my editor has given me a chainsaw, then a hammer, then a chisel.”
“Every book has its flaws, she taught me, but these flaws can contain the heart of the work, its beating pulse,” she added.
Seligman is survived by her longtime partner, James Polk, her sister, Margaret Seligman and her family.
Aprivate funeral will be followed by a public memorial with details yet to be announced.
Cochrane said Seligman’s last days were spent “meticulously overseeing the final details for her fall books.”
She was the former president of PEN Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario and, according to Cochrane, a memorable dancer.
“It seems impossible to imagine that we will be without our beloved friend and colleague,” she wrote. “It’s unfair and heartbreaking to say the very least.”