Following is a description of my professional background and the services I offer.
Professional background
I hold a BA in English (1982) and a TESL certificate from the University of Toronto (1987). I also hold an MA (2003) and PhD (2008) in English from the University of Victoria. I completed an editing certificate at Simon Fraser University in October 2024. Some of my accomplishments follow:
- Provide professional editing services (structural, stylistic, and copy editing) for Turtle Island Consulting Services Inc. on a variety of projects (15 years and continuing)
- Edited (for Turtle Island Consulting) Assembly of First Nations’ Applying a Seven Generations Continuum of Care in First Nations Healthcare: Factors and Considerations (2025)
- Edited (for Turtle Island Consulting) Health Canada’s Beginning the journey into the spirit world: First Nations, Inuit and Métis approaches to palliative and end-of-life care in Canada (2022)
- Edited Smart Cities in Asia: Regulations, Problems, and Development (2022)
- Edited No. 1 (2021) issue: Indigenous Language Revitalization, Reflection, and Future Directions in WINHEC: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship
- Edited (for Turtle Island Consulting) Firesmart’s Blazing the trail: Celebrating Indigenous fire stewardship (2020)
- Co-wrote and edited a successful book proposal for a client leading to a contract with Routledge; guided two authors from dissertation to book publication
- Edited and provided coaching to students for The Arbutus Review, an undergraduate research journal at University of Victoria (4 years)
- Employed as a tutor at University of Victoria’s Centre for Academic Communication (2016–2023)
- Employed as Writing Scholar and Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing, University of Victoria (2010–2015)
- Employed as sessional academic and technical writing instructor (7 years)
- Awarded a Canada Graduate Scholarship from Social Sciences and Humanities Council (3 years: 2005–2008)
- Academic book based on my PhD dissertation published by University of Iowa Press: The Trouble With Sauling Around (2011)
- Book of poems published by Demeter Press: birth of the uncool (2014)
- Several articles, essays, and book reviews published in academic journals and essay collections
Editing services
I have fifteen years’ experience in structural, stylistic, and copy editing. I’ve collaborated on research and writing with academic authors and guided two authors through the process of publishing their academic books (both at Routledge, UK). I coach writers, helping them to tackle their obstacles and find joy in writing.
The most important element in doing this work is my relationship with you, my client. I enjoy working with creative, flexible people who trust my work. I thrive on collaboration and co-creation. Let’s see if we have a good fit. Please contact me and let me know what you’d like to do:
phone and text: 250-813-3423
email: maddyruthwalker@gmail.com
Rate: $45 an hour or package rates. Graduate students: Ask about my special rate.
I feel fortunate and grateful to live and work as an uninvited settler on the unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən People, also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations communities. I live near the Gorge. When I walk there, I remember that Aboriginal people have lived on the land around the Gorge Waterway and Portage Inlet for more than 4,000 years. They used the waterway for gathering food such as salmon, herring, oysters and other shellfish, waterfowl, and eelgrass. Their historical relationship to the land continues to this day.
Madeline Ruth Walker 