jshoesmith

Personal Information

Full Name

John Shoesmith

Bio

John Shoesmith is an archivist at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. He joined the Fisher in 2005, soon after receiving his Master of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. Previously he was a journalist, publishing stories in the Globe and Mail, Report on Business, and Canadian Business magazines, among many others.

Affiliation

University of Toronto

Country

Canada

Personal Statement About Topic

Alberto Manguel and Louise Dennys: An Editing Match
This topic was a natural for me. Having been on both sides of the editing table during my journalism career, I’m fascinated by the dynamic between editor and writer – not to mention the window it provides into the overall creative process. If one wants to better understand how an editor works – how they can be both friend and foe, and how they use their intelligence and experience to bring a manuscript draft to life – examining Louise Dennys’s work is a good start.

Case studies by John Shoesmith

Case study :

Barbarian Press: Endgrain Editions

In their annual notice to subscribers of Barbarian Press’ Endgrain Editions in 2006, Crispin and Jan Elsted tell a story of a young man – “his manner full of despair” – querying the Elsteds as to why they bothered to continue making books, particularly “when no one cares about anything anymore.” The question was even more acute since the Elsteds are not your typical book makers. They are a throwback: eschewing current methods of book making – using computers for every step of production, for example – they instead produce, out of their farmhouse in Mission, B.C., some of the finest handcrafted, letter pressed works in the world.

Case study :

Alberto Manguel and Louise Dennys: An Editing Match

An editor can take on different roles for different writers: eagle-eyed reader, hand-holding cheerleader, or tough-love booster. In the end, however, the editor’s role is single-minded: to bring out the best work in the writer, by whatever means possible. The communications between writer Alberto Manguel and his editor, Louise Dennys, perfectly illustrate this complex and creative relationship.