President’s report
by Margaret Trudgeon AE
The year is fast coming to a close, and the Editors Victoria committee has been working hard over the past month to get some PD workshops and events underway, while planning for new ones to come.
We have just completed running Linda Nix’s “Grammar refresher” workshop, which ran over three sessions and proved very popular. I was fortunate to help out in the first session and it provided a great introduction to the world of grammar. On 14 November, Hilary Cadman’s popular workshop on “Editing tools to boost your productivity” will be held online, where she will discuss four tools – PhraseExpress, PerfectIt, Editor’s Toolkit Plus and ProWritingAid – to assist editors in their day-to-day work.
We’ve lined up two speakers, both authors and advocates for diversity in publishing – Susannah Bowen and Radhiah Chowdhury. They will discuss “Diversity in the Australian publishing industry: current research and how we can support under-represented editors” with Thirangie Jayatilake on 19 November (at 7 pm). Susannah is an author and joint principal researcher on the Australian Publishing Industry Workforce Survey on Diversity and Inclusion, while Radhiah is an author, editor and advocate for diversity in the publishing industry. It promises to be an enlightening and engaging discussion! Then on 22 November, Nadine Davidoff will rerun her popular workshop “Editing narrative nonfiction”.
There has also been lots of planning going on for our in-person Christmas event with Graeme Simsion (author of The Rosie Project and 12 other books) at The Moat (behind the State Library) on Wednesday 4 December, including dinner and a drink. He will talk about his latest project, The glass house, written in collaboration with his wife, Anne Buist. It promises to be an amusing and enjoyable way to finish up the year. Be sure to book soon!
I’m really happy to announce that we have filled two of our remaining positions on the committee. Rachel Chopping is our new projects and outreach officer. She has recently completed her Master of Writing and Publishing at RMIT and has a wealth of publishing experience, including with the Australian Booksellers Association. Our new student advisor is Anita Spooner, who is studying a Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing at Melbourne University, with a background in arts event management and communications. Welcome to both of you! Rachel will also work on creating some cuppas – the free discussion events that have been very popular over the last few years.
On 25 October, a group of Ballarat editors met for a lunch, organised by Jenn Zabinskas, to chat about all things editing while enjoying the views over Lake Wendouree. If you’re Melbourne based and feeling like you need a bit of in-person chat with some fellow editors, on 15 November we are having a networking lunch at Arcadia, in Fitzroy, where you can catch up with your editor buddies to find out what’s been going on. I’ll be there from 12.30 pm. Hope to see you there!
New members
Welcome to last month’s new members.
- Clare Strahan – Professional Member
- Ferenc Mantfeld – Associate Member
- Catherine-Anne Van de Hoef – Student and Graduate Member
- Anita Spooner – Student and Graduate Member
- Edwina Berry – Student and Graduate Member