Lesley Erickson

I’m an award-winning author, editor, and publishing specialist. Over the past two decades, I’ve worked on hundreds of books at all stages of the publishing process, from book proposals and manuscript evaluations to substantive editing, copy-editing, proofreading, production, and promotion. As an editor, I’ve collaborated with authors from all walks of life – historians, academics, journalists, lawyers, politicians, and first-time authors – and the books I’ve edited have appeared on bestseller lists and received major awards.

I hold a master’s degree in publishing and a PhD in Canadian history. I worked as a senior editor in the Production and Editorial Services department at UBC Press for six years, where I focused on history and Indigenous studies, books in the Press’s trade imprints, and helping academics write for general readers. In addition to hands-on editing, I evaluate manuscripts for authors and publishers and help craft attention-grabbing proposals and promotional copy.

I’m the author of Westward Bound: Sex, Violence, the Law and the Making of a Settler Society, which won the Honourable Mention from the Canadian Law Society in 2011, and I was a finalist for the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence in 2019. I guest lecture in SFU’s Master of Publishing Program and have taught workshops for Editors Canada. 

Recent titles:

From Where I Stand, Jody Wilson-Raybould

The Way Home, David Neel

It’s All Good (Unless It’s Not), Nicole Malette

Breaching the Peace, Sarah Cox