Writing
On-staff and freelance magazine and newspaper writer, 1985 – present. Features, sports writing, reviews, opinion and humour pieces, packages, columns.
- Vancouver magazine, Toronto Star, Saturday Night, Allergic Living, Vancouver Sun, Canadian Living, eye WEEKLY, Georgia Straight, Western Living, Chicago Tribune, and many more.
Content writer, 2018-present. Focusing on medical, health and wellness, science/environmental, and business.
- The Longevity Playbook health/medical app and website, 2023.
- MaiaCare caregivers’ resources app, 2022-2023.
- The Targeted Strategies Group (financial firm), 2020-2022.
- The Network for Business Sustainability, 2021.
- Arc’teryx Equipment, 2019.
- Science World, 2019.
Author
A Standard of Trust: 200 Years of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (Echo Storytelling / USP, 2022. Hardbound and digital, 139pp.)
Denumb Your Bum!
(Ingram Spark, 2017. Softbound, 16pp.)
“How to Win at Rummy”.
(ARC Poetry Magazine, 2011.)
Editing
Substantive, development, and copy editor, 1989-present.
- Book editor, Finding Your Passion, Living the Dream (2023) and ADHD Unlocked (2022), by John Brink (Brink Media. Hardbound and digital.)
- Development and substantive book editor (contract), Echo Storytelling, 2018-2020.
- Manuscript editor, Against All Odds, by John Brink (Echo Storytelling, 2019. Hardbound and digital, 222pp.)
- Manuscript editor, Our Story: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at 20. (Jennifer Van Evra, author; The Chan Centre, 2018. Digital and softbound, 44pp.)
- Associate Editor, Vancouver magazine, 1996, 2000.
- Copy and production editor, eye WEEKLY magazine, 1991-’93.
- Assistant Editor and copy editor, the Georgia Straight, 1989-’90, 1996.
Teaching & coaching
Academic writing coach, 2012-2022.
- Royal Roads University School of Business
- Associate faculty, Royal Roads University Masters Program in Professional Communication, 2020.
Specializing in guiding MBA students through capstone papers.
University English instructor, 2001-2017.
- Acadia University, 2014-2017
- University of Connecticut, 2009-2011
- Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 2001-2009
Designed and taught English Composition and Literature courses; wrote instructional textbooks focusing on literary interpretation, academic composition, grammar, analytical and critical thinking, research skills.
Research
White paper series on business succession planning, 2021-’22.
For The Targeted Strategies Group.
- 7 Steps to Creating an Effective Family-Business Succession Plan (35pp.)
- Family Dynamics are Central to Business Succession Planning (32pp.)
- When It Comes to Business Succession, the Soft Stuff Is Hard (32pp.)
Business plans, individual, for immigration purposes, 2018-’19
For BrightGo Solutions.
Doctoral Dissertation, biophilia and sociobiology in children’s literature. See Academic Writing page.
Education
PhD., English Literature (Children’s Literature and Ecocriticism), University of Connecticut, 2015.
M.A., English Literature (African American and Caribbean poetry), University of British Columbia, 2000.
B.A., English Literature, University of British Columbia, 1995.
Interests
Consuming:
- Animals, nature, ecology, the environment
- Music
- The U.K.
- Children’s books
- Poetry (esp. formal)
- Politics
- TV and movies
- Magazines (about anything)
- Gardening
- Community organizing
- Health & wellness, nutrition
- Languages
- Economics and finance
- Medical and most other sciencey subjects
Of more moderate intensity:
- Baking & cooking
- Word games
- Parts of the world that aren’t the UK
- Race relations and racial identity, especially African American – White
- Rhetoric
- Epidemiology
- E. O. Wilson and E. B. White
Pamela Swanigan portfolio 