Anna Lee-Popham
Editing, Writing Consultation, and Transmedia Storytelling
for projects about justice and movement building
Writing is a political act. We understand the world through the stories we record, the books we write, and the research we document. Other people understand the world through reading our words. Crafting these stories so they have the desired impact can be difficult. Creating a cohesive narrative that communicates the complexity of our ideas is challenging. Translating inquiry and analysis into a structured dissertation is often complicated and solitary work.
We all need support.
Perhaps you want to develop practical skills to strengthen your writing, or you need help organizing your manuscript. You may be interested in expanding the reach of your manuscript through creating an integrated multimedia experience. Or you are looking for someone who understands the Chicago Manual of Style. You may not be clear about what you need, or you may be best supported by a combination approach. You’re not alone.
Writing Consultation
Cultivate your writing strengths and move beyond your challenges with the support of a collaborative relationship that encourages your writing process.
Transmedia Projects
Tell an integrated, cohesive story across multiple media, with each medium communicating the narrative as it is best suited to do.
Developmental Editing
Receive support developing the vision for your project and staying true to that vision from first draft through completion.
Structural Editing
Ensure that the organization of your manuscript is clear and the content is understood as intended.
Stylistic Editing
Be confident that your grammar, punctuation, spelling, verb conjugation, and other mechanics of style are correct.
My work with words and storytelling is closely connected to my involvement in social justice movements. My appreciation for the power of language was molded in my youth, while crafting Free Nelson Mandela posters. It was built up on the schoolyard, where words are used to attack, used to soothe. It has deepened through formal studies, including an MA focused on educational justice. It expands continuously through collaboration with writers and others resisting injustice and building new ways of being.
Throughout my years of involvement with social movements and community organizations, I have often concentrated on developing engaging and strategic materials and resources, a skill that I bring to my work with writers. As an editor and writing consultant, I focus on supporting a writer’s creative process and developing the coherence of a piece while fully maintaining the intent and unique style.
I have received editing certification through the Professional Sequence in Editing at the University of Berkeley and am currently pursuing a certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. I have membership with the Editorial Freelancers Association and the Editors’ Association of Canada and have expertise in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.
Most importantly, I have your back.
Transmedia Projects
Transmedia storytelling tells a story across multiple platforms (a book, a film, a series of podcasts), with each medium communicating the narrative as it is best suited to do: Podcasts concentrate on the world of sound, a film surrounds viewers with a complex sensory experience, a book engages the audience’s imagination into the imagery. Each telling of the transmedia story interlaces with and strengthens the others, meaning that audiences/participants engage with the entire storytelling experience, across the different media, to fully experience the story.
Check out the potential of this approach: Life in the City of Dirty Water.
Books and Essays
In my work with first-time and published authors of books and essays, I focus on both the coherence and the creativity of a piece. Some of my clients’ works are political, some are poetic: a book-length sociological study following Mardi Gras beads through the globalized economy, an article examining the root causes of the high incarceration rates of disabled people of color, a poem exploring a young girl’s search for adventure.
Academic Writing
As an editor of academic writing, I focus on dissertations and articles in the social sciences and humanities. As a writing consultant, I work with graduate students whose committee has suggested they receive support in the development of their dissertation. I also assist professors and students who are publishing articles or revising theses into manuscripts. I specialize in APA, MLA, and Chicago style guides.
Organizational Texts
My experience editing print and web-based documents for individuals and organizations includes reports, website content, press releases, and funding applications. This often involves ensuring that the language used best communicates the intended message. My work with applicants to multi-year and single-term grants has been very successful.
