Where legacy meets literature.
Thank you for being here. We are honoured by your desire to immortalize something truly valuable: the story of your life.
We specialize in crafting memoirs with literary elegance and discretion. Every project is approached with reverence, clarity, and the editorial excellence that comes from years of experience in award-winning authorship and legacy storytelling.
Because of the care we give each client, we accept a limited number of memoirs each year. Most of our work comes through referrals and word of mouth. But if you’ve arrived here, you’re in the right place.
Here’s What Happens Next:
- Submit a brief message below.
- We’ll personally review your inquiry and respond within 2 business days.
- If it’s a fit, we’ll offer a brief introductory call to discuss your goals and tailor a path forward.
- Should you choose to move forward with a book contract, our founder will travel to meet you in person. This first meeting is designed to begin the process of deeply understanding your voice, life story, and legacy aspirations.
Whether you’re ready to begin or just curious about how it all works, we welcome the conversation.
K.H. Bickell Literary Inc.
Literary Storytellers Devoted to the Artful Preservation of Legacy.
We are a collective of writers, designers, and strategists devoted to the preservation of legacy through literary excellence, visual craft, and elegant author publication services. Our award-winning team brings together MFA-trained authors, seasoned marketing partners, and design professionals to create books of lasting beauty, depth, and discretion.
Each member of the K.H. Bickell Literary plays a vital role in shaping the stories we are entrusted to tell with care, clarity, and an unwavering standard of excellence.
Kate Bickell is an author, memoirist, and literary consultant with a longstanding career in shaping life stories into enduring works of art.
A published novelist and memoirist, Kate’s work has garnered critical acclaim and multiple literary honours, including the George Bugnet Award, the Howard O’Hagan Award, and the Voice of Motherhood Prize, as well as support from numerous government bodies, attesting to the cultural value and literary excellence of her work.
In her role as Literary Director and Principal Memoirist at K.H. Bickell Literary Inc., Kate oversees the artistic integrity of every manuscript. She meets directly with each client, ensuring their voice, vision, and values are preserved throughout the collaborative process. From initial interviews to final edits, no memoir leaves the studio without first passing through her exacting editorial hand. She coaches the agency’s senior ghostwriters in narrative structure, interview etiquette and techniques, and literary refinement—ensuring every project meets the house’s uncompromising standards.
As a private manuscript consultation, a former Writer in Residence for the Edmonton Federation of Libraries, and a professional mentor through such esteemed programs such as the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and the Alexandra Writers’ Society, Kate’s editorial insight has shaped hundreds of manuscripts across North America—from Vancouver to Toronto, and as far as Rochester, New York.
Devoted to preserving her client’s experiences with truth, clarity, and grace, Kate has written client memoirs on a wide range of topics and themes, including war & military service, natural disasters, multinational business mergers, addiction & recovery, parenthood & marriage, faith & spirituality, industrial start-ups and expansions, immigration, aviation, and more. At the intersection of legacy and literature, Kate brings both mastery and discernment to every story she shapes.
Hilary Fair is an award-winning writer and psychotherapist from Ontario whose work is known for evocative lyrical prose and profound emotional insight. Her ability to craft narratives rich in depth and resonance stems naturally from her nuanced understanding of the human experience, enabling her to create a space of warmth and ease where clients feel genuinely heard, and their stories are deeply understood.
Hilary’s writing has earned her significant literary recognition, including the 2024 Event Magazine Creative Non-Fiction Prize and the 2021 Amy Award for memoir. Her essays have also been shortlisted for the prestigious Edna Staebler Award and the Humber Literary Review Prize. Additionally, Hilary’s work has appeared in such touchstone publications of Canadian literature as Event Magazine, Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly, The Good Life Review, Third Street Review, and the Stratford Festival’s Fanfares magazine.
Hilary lives near the shores of Lake Huron with her husband, where she is currently at work on a novel. She looks forward to working with clients seeking an insightful writer committed to honouring their unique story.
Elisabeth Shenher is a writer whose work explores the quiet forces that shape relationships, memory, and identity across time and place. Based in Edmonton, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alberta, along with a Certificate in International Learning and a dual undergraduate degree in English and Anthropology from the University of British Columbia—credentials that reflect both her literary depth and global perspective.
A recipient of national and international honours, Elisabeth’s fiction has appeared in The Fiddlehead, earned the Australian Writers’ Centre’s Furious Fiction Prize, and been listed for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She has been awarded funding from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and was invited to the Banff Centre’s Emerging Writers’ Intensive. She routinely teaches literary craft and pedagogy across genres and platforms for various writing institutions.
At K.H. Bickell Literary, clients benefit not only from her expertise in literary craft and pedagogy, but also from her refined cultural literacy. An avid global traveller, Elisabeth’s cultural experiences enhance her ability to meets client with curiosity, elegance, and a sense of adventure in storytelling. This artistic discernment shines in her work on The Travel Journal, a series of anonymous short memoirs drawn from client interviews and commissioned by a luxury concierge service—many of which appear in the K.H. Bickell Literary Library.
Warm, perceptive, and quietly rigorous, Elisabeth is particularly skilled at shaping complex or unconventional life stories. Inspired by the late Anthony Bourdain’s ethos of openhearted exploration, she approaches each memoir with a rare blend of elegance and edge—unafraid to ask bold questions, always attuned to the emotional truth beneath the surface.
L. Fox is a multidisciplinary designer and communications strategist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. With a background in sports journalism, Fox brings to her design practice a deep understanding of narrative arc, rhythm, and emotional pacing—skills that enrich her ability to visually interpret and elevate life stories.
At K.H. Bickell Literary Inc., Fox leads the studio’s bespoke visual identity. From archival-quality covers to interior typography, layout, and heirloom packaging, her work ensures each memoir is not only masterfully written, but embodied in a form that is elegant, enduring, and artfully rendered.
Her practiced eye for legacy branding and visual storytelling is matched by focused experience in book launch campaigns and aesthetic systems. Formerly the lead designer at Always Brave Creative, Fox developed high-level branding for mission-driven organizations and public-facing leaders—a foundation that informs her discerning, author-centered approach today.
Outside the studio, Fox draws inspiration from painting, water sports (including dragon boating), and the spirited conversations of her long-standing book club.
