Ellen Seligman, longtime editor and publisher of McClelland & Stewart, died on Friday. She worked for M&S, one of Canada's oldest publishing houses, for nearly four decades. After joining the company in 1977 she became editorial director of fiction in 1987, and took over as publisher in 2000.
Although she was born and raised in New York, the American expat worked at M&S with some of the biggest names in Canadian literature, including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Leonard Cohen, and Anne Michaels. Throughout her career, Seligman edited an astounding number of award-winning books, including 23 Governor General's Literary Award winners, six Giller Prize winners, and four Man Booker Prize winners. She also served from 2009 to 2011 as president of PEN Canada, an organization that defends writers' freedom of expression.
Kristin Cochrane, president and publisher of Penguin Random House Canada—the company became full owner of M&S in 2012—released a statement regarding Seligman's death on Friday.
“Though we are in the business of words, I find it next to impossible to express the grief I know we all feel with the loss of this incomparable woman," Cochrane wrote. "It is too hard to come up with just the right adjective (though Ellen would of course want me to) to accurately or adequately describe the contribution Ellen made to Canadian literature.”
Seligman's family chose not to release her age or cause of death, but according to Cochrane's statement, Seligman spent many of her last days "meticulously overseeing the final details for her fall books." This included editing Steven Price's novel By Gaslight, which Cochrane referred to as one of M&S's biggest fiction titles in years.
Seligman is survived by her longtime partner, James Polk and her sister, Margaret Seligman. Details of the public memorial will be announced soon.
