Jan Whitford

Jan Whitford has had a long and distinguished career in Canadian and international book publishing.

Born in southern Ontario, she graduated from McMaster University (BA, Summa cum Laude, French and German Language and Literature) and after a year spent studying and working in Europe, went on to do graduate work at McGill University. She began working in the publishing industry in 1976, first as a sales representative, then as the general books editor at Prentice-Hall, and later as Editorial Director at Collins, where she was also a member of the Board of Directors, and President of the Book Publishers Professional Association.

In 1989, Whitford created JLW Publishing Consultant, and began working as a consultant in the book publishing industry, and soon afterwards also as a literary agent in association with Lucinda Vardey Agency, which subsequently became Westwood Creative Artists, where she also sat on the Board of Directors. She has specialized in representing writers of literary fiction and narrative non-fiction. Among her clients were Booker Prize winner Yann Martel, two Giller Prize winners – Bonnie Burnard and Moyez Vassanji – and several Governor-General’s Award winners, including Anne Collins, Karen Connelly, David Adams Richards, Jeffrey Simpson, Josef Skvorecky and Rosemary Sullivan. Her list of clients, who have been published around the world, included Barbara Gowdy, Charlotte Gray, Sharon Butala, Tom King, Zsuzsi Gartner, Ernest Hillen, Susan Musgrave, Marilyn Bowering, Kevin Patterson and the Estate of Margaret Laurence.

Ms. Whitford has taught courses and seminars for the BPPA (Book Publishers Professional Association), the Humber School for Writers, the York University Creative Writing Program, the SFU Masters of Publishing Program and the SFU Summer Publishing Workshops. Since her arrival in Vancouver in December 2000, she has become a member of the Board of the Vancouver International Writers Festival, the Vancouver Recital Society, the Goh Ballet Vancouver Society, and the David Suzuki Foundation Publishing Committee.

She is married to Michael Stevenson, President of Simon Fraser University.