Ellen Jane Seligman (born February 2, 1944; died March 25, 2016) was an American-Canadian editor and publisher. She was a member of the Order of Ontario, the highest honour in the Canadian province of Ontario, and twice won the Canadian Booksellers Association Editor of the Year Award. [1]
Seligman was born in New York City and attended the University of Wisconsin, where she received a Bachelor of Arts. She moved to Canada in 1976, where she eventually took a job with McClelland and Stewart as a senior editor and became their editorial director of fiction by 1987. [2] [3] During this time she worked with authors such as Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, Jane Urquhart and Alice Munro, and in 2012 became the vice-president of McClelland and Stewart. [1] [3] At the time of her death Seligman was seen as one of Canada's top literary editors. [2] [4] In 2009 Seligman became the president of PEN Canada, a position she held until 2011. [5]
Seligman died in Toronto on March 25, 2016, and was survived by partner James Polk, sister Margaret Seligman and her extended family.