About Godard Communications

 

My name is Freya Godard, and I am the owner of Godard Communications, which is located in downtown Toronto. 

After more than 25 years as an editor and writer, I know the importance of putting the right word in the right place and have acquired the skill to do it. I can apply that skill to documents of almost any kind — newsletters, magazines, books, annual reports, speeches, government publications, educational materials, correspondance and many others.

 

Certification

I am a Certified Professional Editor, which is a designation granted by the Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC) on the basis of invigilated examinations in proofreading, copy editing, stylistic editing and structural editing.

 

Awards

I have been a finalist for the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence (presented by EAC) for my editing of the following books:

  • Misconceiving Canada: The Struggle for National Unity by Kenneth McRoberts, published by Oxford University Press, 1997. The judges said:

“Freya’s meticulous work was an excellent example of reworking prose to illuminate the meaning of the text.”

  • Regenerating the Canadian Forest: Principles and Practice for Ontario by Robert Wagner and Steve Colombo, published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 2001. The judges wrote:

 “Freya brought to this massive project a firm hand, a sharp eye, and an obvious facility with language. Her organizational skills and her painstaking attention to detail are everywhere in evidence…. The book is very technical in nature and involved a daunting array of voices, yet Freya managed to impose an overall cohesiveness and to make the work of many authors accessible to the reader. An inspiring editorial accomplishment.”  

 

Teaching experience

In a previous career, I taught high-school French and German and adult ESL in Toronto.

 

Education

  • Honours B.A. in French and German, McMaster University
  • One year’s study on a German-government scholarship at the University of Tübingen, Germany
  • M.A. in German language and literature, University of Toronto
  • Secondary-school teaching certificate, Ontario College of Education

 

Extracurricular

I was born in Toronto (I am a seventh-generation Torontonian) and grew up in southern Ontario – in Mimico, Toronto, Galt and Hamilton. For most of my adult life, I’ve lived on Toronto Island, which I leave by ferry every day to reach my office on the mainland.