About Us
We are a small British Columbia west-coast house whose aim is to aid writers in publishing books that reflect the full range of Canadian history and culture in a variety of disciplines. To that end we offer a home base and a limited number of services.
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Our editors are traditionally published authors who have also self-published several books and worked with dozens of other authors in a variety of genres. Together we span more than six decades of experience in the world of book publishing.
Services
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Editing: picture books, fiction and non-fiction
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Book layout and design
Submissions
We cannot accept unsolicited submissions at this time, but welcome queries
about publishing through Peregrin.
Please Include a brief summary of your book.
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About the Team
Jocelyn Reekie
Fiction
Jeanette Taylor
Non-fiction
Jocelyn is a graduate of the 1996 Banff Centre Book Editing Program, and as an editor has worked with dozens of authors, taught writing/editing workshops to both young writers and adults.
In 1995, she established Kingfisher Publishing, and with co-editor, Annette Yourk, edited and produced ShoreLines: Memoirs & Tales of the Discovery Islands—an anthology that includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry by 33 writers. In 2012, she established Peregrin Publishing and partnered with five other authors and artists to edit and produce Escape, an anthology of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and graphic stories by 28 writers and artists. A third anthology project was working with four other artists to write, illustrate and produce a children’s picture book titled Please Don’t Eat The Cheese: House Mouse Tales, Vol. 1 in 2014. Her most recent editing project was substantive and line-editing for Diana Stevan’s Lilacs in the Dust Bowl in 2021.
Jocelyn says, “I always learn something valuable from working with others, and one of my favorite things is to see the joy on the faces of writers who hold printed copies of their first published work in their hands.”
Jeanette Taylor has a passion for stories, their structure and impact, and has five non-fiction books in print, three of them with Harbour Publishing. Her most recent book, Twin Islands, received accolades in a self-published book award offered by Writers Digest magazine for its design and storytelling.
She coordinates The Scribes Comprehensive Writing Services collective, writes a blog for its website; and mentors writers through workshops, one-on-one tutoring, and manuscript reviews. “Thanks so much for your excellent suggestions, corrections and guidance,” wrote a client. “I was up half the night of our sessions wired with ideas; even got up at 2:30 a.m. to write some of them down.”
Jeanette writes from the office of her 1893 log home on Quadra island, BC, overlooking gardens, orchards and the sea. When not writing, or digging for intriguing stories, her favourite place to be is kayaking among the Discovery Islands—or playing with her grandchildren.
For more, see the Scribes Writing Services’ website http://thescribes.ca/
Heather Kellerhals-Stewart
Picture Books
Heather has always loved picture books beginning with bedtime stories and right through the years when she has actively been writing them. She pretends to buy picture books for her grandkids when they are really for herself!
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The first cardinal rule that was gradually beaten into her head when she was working with editors as an author was the need to be patient, to listen closely and be flexible. The editor wants the prospective book to be great. He, or she, is not the adversary demanding unreasonable changes from the submitted work of art. The second was that publishing companies are geared around different interests.
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For picture books, Heather says perhaps most important is the relationship between the writer and the illustrator. Some editors insist on keeping the two well apart, even to not revealing the prospective artist’s name, but in most instances there is some consultation. Heather has worked with both extremes and learned much in the process about the delicate balance between words and art and where the latter must be left to tell the story.
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She has taken part in several editing circles with informal writing groups and in the production of an anthology, was part of a panel adjudicating picture books for the annual BC Book Prizes, and has read submissions for a Writer’s Union of Canada prize.
Robyn Budd
Book Layout and Design
Robyn Budd is a graphic designer with a background in fine arts and print design. Educated in Toronto (MFA, York University; Graphic Design, Sheridan College) she worked in a number of design studios specializing in branding, packaging, and publications, before moving on to newspaper and magazine design for the gay press. A move across the country took her from downtown Toronto to the Discovery Islands in BC where she put her design and writing talents to work for environmental groups, political campaigns, and the visual and written arts.
Quadra Island has been home for two decades now, and when she is actually indoors at her cabin studio she continues to design all things book-related, with an occasional side hustle editing and designing a local newsmagazine.
Robyn brings high production values to every project she directs, and her creative skills assure a unique approach to each design adventure she embarks on. (And yes, she’s been known to turn her hand to illustration when asked politely.) At home in the world of print, Robyn is currently exploring publication design for web-based environments.