READ MY STORIES
Bio
For the last 20 years, I have taken a wide range of roles in media companies focused on magazines, newspapers, broadcast and the web. I have worked as an editor and writer for weekly and monthly periodicals, and as the editor of a large website. I have also taught practical and theory courses on publishing at three universities. Publishing remains my primary interest, but in a 2.0 world I’ve come to recognize that what matters most are compelling stories delivered to an engaged readership. Platform comes a distant second.
VIEW A PHOTO GALLERY
With Sheryl Mackay and Salman Rushdie 
With Bob Tyrrell of Orca Books at SFU 
With Sheryl Mackay and Alberto Manguel 
With Breanna Watson, Joyce Watson, Niki Walton, and Charles Campbell 
With Chuck Palahniuk and Douglas Coupland 
With Sheryl Mackay and William Gibson 
The Ethics of Editing at “Conference on the Coast: Magazine Association of BC”, January 2011 
With Denise Ryan and Michael Hayward at the Writers Fest 
With Sheryl Mackay and William Gibson 
With Joe Sacco and Sheryl Mackay 
Georgia Straight Xmas party (owner Dan Mcleod in background) 
With Sheryl Mackay, Douglas Coupland, and Darrell Fox 
Georgia Straight’s Best of Vancouver party 
CBC Studio One Book Club with David Suzuki, May 7 (2006)
Articles I edited received these nominations…
2010
Regular Column or Department
FRANCES BULA // URBAN FIX {GOLD}
2009
Politics & Public Interest
TERRY GLAVIN // NOW & EVERLASTING
2012 { AWARDS PENDING }
Business
FRANCES BULA // BRAWNS, BEAUTY OR BRAINS?
FRANCES BULA // UNDER THE INFLUECE
Profile
FRANCES BULA, CAN WE TALK?
Public Issues
CLAUDE ADAMS // THE HOSTAGE
DANIELLE EGAN // LOST GIRLS
Regular Column or Department
FRANCES BULA // URBAN FIX
Magazine of the Year
VANCOUVER MAGAZINE
2011
Regular Column or Department
FRANCES BULA // URBAN FIX { GOLD }
Science, Technology & Medicine
GARY STEPHEN ROSS // THE ANCIENT MARINER { GOLD }
Public Issues
CHAD HERSHLER // GOT MILK?
Magazine of the Year
VANCOUVER MAGAZINE
2010
Business
DEE HON // MR. LONELYHEARTS
Regular Column or Department
FRANCES BULA // URBAN FIX
Service
JAMES GLAVE, JIM SUTHERLAND & THE EDITORS // THE NEW AUSTERITY
Gold Award Best Article (BC/Yukon)
FRANCES BULA // THE ECSTASY OF PAUL HADEN
Magazine of the Year
VANCOUVER MAGAZINE
2009
Regular Column or Department
FRANCES BULA // URBAN FIX
Magazine of the Year
VANCOUVER MAGAZINE
2009
Magazine of the Year (Medium Circulation)
VANCOUVER MAGAZINE { GOLD }
Substantive editing (books)
Copy editing (books)
Journalism (Executive Editor // Managing Editor // Editor)
Teaching
2011
CAPILANO UNIVERSITY
September–DecemberWriting for Magazines (CMNS 190)
This course teaches students the fundamentals of magazine writing, starting with generating story ideas and pitching them to editors. Learn how to write short, front-of-the-book articles, profiles, first-person accounts and other magazine features.
May/JuneWriting for Magazines (CMNS 191)
This seven-week intensive teaches students the fundamentals of magazine writing, starting with generating story ideas and pitching them to editors. Learn how to write short, front-of-the-book articles, profiles, first-person accounts and other magazine features.
2010
CAPILANO UNIVERSITY
September–DecemberIntroduction to Communications Studies (CMNS 112)
This course seeks to foster a spirit of critical inquiry as to how communication and meaning-making processes relate to the structures and experience of everyday life. The course introduces students to problems, issues, and debates in media, communication technologies, communication systems, symbolic exchange, interpersonal and intercultural communication.
Understanding News (CMNS 235)
This course introduces students to the institution and industry of making news in our society. It focuses on the social, political, professional, economic and technological forces which both shape and constrain news production in modern Canadian news organizations.
Writing for Magazines (CMNS 191)
(see description above)
2009
CAPILANO UNIVERSITY
September-DecemberWriting Skills for New Media (CMNS 165)
Communications 165 is intended to foster writing and presentation skills for work in the new media industries. The course encourages students to explore techniques and career trends in technical and professional writing. Check out some instructional materials on the Interactive Design blog.
Writing for Magazines (CMNS 191)
(see description above)
2008
September-DecemberKWANTLEN UNIVERSITY
Writing for Magazines (JRNL 3130)
Students will learn how to develop the “writer’s voice,” to integrate narrative and descriptive writing into stories, and to organize material for magazine-length, non-fiction stories. They will develop the skills necessary to rewrite magazine stories and to work with an editor.
2005
May-AugustSIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Books, Markets, and Readers (CMNS 472)
Over our 13 weeks, we’ll attempt to understand how readers and their books come together, and what keeps them apart. Our discussions will cover a number of genres—literary fiction, popular fiction, children’s writing, bestselling nonfiction and fiction, niche nonfiction—as well as a look at what we mean by the term “genre” to begin with. We’ll put reading and writing into a brief historical context, and look at the yardsticks by which we can measure the success of a book, both within publishing and as measured against other entertainment products such as DVDs, CDs, and feature films.
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Books, Markets, and Readers (CMNS 472)
(see description above)
John Burns 