Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 13 May
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Copy editor and grammar nerd Mary Norris has seen the fabled linguistic traditions of the New Yorker up close – she’s been working at the magazine for 40 years, most famously as query proofreader and Comma Queen. That experience forms the backbone of her first book, Between You & Me. ‘I hope writers will see that we are not the enemy,’ she has said of her profession. ‘We love the language.’
In her latest book, Greek to Me, Norris shares her love of all things Greek. Of course, it’s about language – how the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet, and the surprising ways Greek informs English – but it also documents Norris’s encounters with Greek gods, wine, men, and olive groves. Myths are reinterpreted; landmarks are sought out; beautiful coincidences of word and symbol are excavated.
We’re delighted to welcome Mary Norris back to Melbourne for a chat about her travels through Greek language, culture and art – hosted by Penny Modra.
Readings will be our bookseller for this event.
This event will be Auslan interpreted.
Featuring
Mary Norris
Mary Norris is the author of Greek to Me and the New York Times bestseller Between You & Me, an account of her years in the New Yorker copy department. Originally from Cleveland, she lives in New York. Her favourite pencil used to be the Dixon Ticonderoga No. 1, but she now makes do with the Palomino Blackwing.
Penny Modra
Penny Modra is the editorial director at The Good Copy, a Melbourne-based writing school and consultancy. She is a regular ‘grammar enthusiast’ guest on ABC Radio Melbourne and teaches editing in RMIT University's Professional Writing and Editing program. Penny writes occasional features for the Guardian, Vice Australia, Frankie and Smith Journal.
Before co-founding The Good Copy, Penny spent seven years as editorial director of The Thousands city guides nationally and as a visual arts reviewer for the Age and the Sunday Age. For fun, she has copyedited everything from Head Full of Snakes magazine to PhDs that are due 'quite soon'.