Hamutal Dotan

editor, editorial consultant, writing instructor

My Approach

I didn't start out with any idea of being an editor.I had decided — back when I was 12 years old and first learned what this meant — that I was going to be a philosophy professor. This would, I thought, help me better understand the world around me. I loved the sense of exploration and the rigour, but several years into graduate school, I realized that I it was important to me to apply those skills more concretely.Soon, I discovered that there was no place I’d rather be than a newsroom, adding context and nuance to recent events, hashing out ideas with reporters, and honing stories that could help readers understand the changing world around them.As an editor, I draw on all these experiences: melding journalistic narrative and my training in critical thinking to help writers create work that is beautiful, meticulous, and incisive.

About Me

I'm an award-winning editor with over 15 years of experience in magazine, digital, newspaper, and book-length journalism. My particular loves are features editing, editorial strategy, and building more equitable newsrooms.I've held senior roles at some of the most established publications in the country (as long-reads editor at the Globe and Mail and senior editor of The Walrus) and at rambunctious startups (dearest to me was Torontoist, where I was editor-in-chief for four years). I've edited National Newspaper Award-winning memoir and National Magazine Award-winning journalism, overseen redesigns, developed editorial strategies, and conducted market research. Once in a while, I also teach journalism and creative non-fiction.Most recently, I've been appointed to a William Southam Journalism Fellowship at the University of Toronto (Massey College), where I'm researching the psychology and sociology of reading.

Contact

If you'd like to talk about an editorial project — an article, a book idea, a publication redesign — at any stage of its gestation, please get in touch.