Arts writer Susan Walker posts news, views and reviews on dance, theatre, music, movies, books and what-have-you

Susan Walker has a broad background in the arts and entertainment. I write about dance and theatre and I also review books and write about the visual arts. I post regularly on susanwalkerartsblog.com. My work has appeared in AZURE magazine, C Magazine, Quill & Quire, The Malahat Review, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, Literary Review of Canada and the literary webzine Hazlitt. As a travel writer I specialize in cultural tourism.

Susan Walker has been working with fiction and non-fiction authors since the 1990s as a freelance book editor, I do both substantive editing, including shaping and making suggestions for re-writing, and copy-editing. I take books from first to final draft. I also prepare comprehensive book proposals. My rates are very reasonable and I offer a free estimate. Most recent published books that I have worked on include: Therafields, by Grant Goodbrand (ECW), Passing Through by David Penhale (Cormorant), Texas, by Claudio Gaudio (Quattro) and Finding Matthew by Donna Kirk (BPS). I have also done extensive work for Michael Hetherington, publisher at Passfield Press. Recent and current projects include: They Never Told Me and Other Stories, by Austin Clarke (Exile);The Stories That Are Great Within Us (Exile); Hoggwash: The Callaghan and Rosenblatt Epistolary Convergence (Exile); The Whole Gardener: Ed Burt's Guide to Growing Your own Food; Many Cunning Passages by Ava Homa (fiction); Kin Yeung, Blanc de Chine and the Pursuit of Harmony (non-fiction); Everything Hurts by Alexandra Bednar (fiction); Darlene Madott, Winners and Losers (fiction); Tinder Morgan, magazine article by Silas Rosenblatt (opinion); Susan Ford, Legendary Ladies of the Art World (non-fiction). I also offer a proofreading service, One Last Look

WRI365 Editing: Principles and Practice, a course taught in the Professional Writing and Communications program at UTM. An introduction to editing for online and print formats, including newspapers and news sites, magazines and books, blogging and social media, broadcasting and podcasting.

Starting out as book editor and editor of the Saturday Magazine books and arts section, Susan moved to daily reporting as education reporter (1991-1993). From 1993 to the end of 2008, she was attached to the entertainment department of the Toronto Star where she was a sometime copy editor, then dance writer, movie reviewer, arts feature writer and frequently reviewed theatre, the visual arts and occasionally music.

Susan was the founding editor of the quarterly magazine Canadian Art. The magazine was at first co-published by Key Publishers and Maclean Hunter. The title revived the name of a periodical that had served the visual arts in Canada in the 1940s and 1950s.

Susan worked on Quill & Quire, the magazine of the Canadian book trade for more than 15 years. She started doing part-time research, advanced to ad sales, library editor, book review editor and finally to publisher and editor.