Tales of pencils, punctuation and proofreading The New Yorker.

In the age of fake news and alternative facts, proofreading has become a form of protest. Fortunately, New Yorker copy editor and self-professed comma queen, Mary Norris has spent an inordinate amount time in the company of words. Norris’ New York Times bestseller, Between You & Me, divulges curious tales of perfect punctuation and pencil preferences (formerly: Dixon Ticonderoga No. 1, presently: Palomino Blackwing) during her 40 years in The New Yorker’s celebrated copy department.

Too often proofreaders are mislabelled – persnickety, pedantic, pompous – but Mary Norris hopes that eventually, “writers will see that we are not the enemy”. Perhaps the only thing she is guilty of is loving language more than most.

Join Mary Norris at the State Library of NSW for a conversation on her time at The New Yorker and her new book, Greek to Me.

Tickets

General Admission | $10
General Admission | UNSW Student | Free (show student card upon arrival)

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Auslan

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