President’s report

By Margaret Trudgeon

Summer is nearly over, and there have been some very hot, windy days recently. Our thoughts are with our members in the Ballarat region and surrounds where some fires are currently being fought. I hope they are brought under control soon and everyone is safe.

Some members may have noticed a new email format for advertising events, workshops and get-togethers in recent weeks. IPEd has switched to a single weekly email to advertise current events across all branches and IPEd. It’s part of a plan to cut down on the number of emails members receive, and to create a sort of one-stop shop for all things IPEd and branch-related. It should make it easier for people to find events of interest to them, as they are all listed together. Don’t forget to make it a regular Friday habit to check your email from the Communications team at IPEd! (communication@iped-editors.org)

Editors Victoria has started off the year with a couple of in-person get-togethers – a regional coffee morning on 28 February in Ballarat, followed by a networking lunch to celebrate leap year at Arcadia Cafe in Fitzroy, Melbourne. We had a reasonable turnout, and it was great to catch up with everyone. On 7 March a group of EdVic members are heading to the Arts Centre to see the “Dictionary of Lost Words”. It’s an event with a difference and should be a fun night out!

edvic

Above: Some of the IPEd members who attended the Editors Victoria networking lunch. Image: Supplied. [/caption]

I’m really looking forward to our next online Cuppa event, to be held on Monday 18 March – an interview between our inclusion and access adviser, Thirangie Jayatilake, and Pallavi Narayan, an editor, author and Associate Professor of Practice from Ahmedabad University in Gujarat, India, who will be telling us about the editing industry across Asia. Pallavi has worked for major global publishers in India and Singapore, is the recipient of several writing, publishing and scholarly fellowships, and has written and published two books. It should be fascinating to hear about her experiences and editing and publishing operations in Asia. We hope that this will be the start of a fruitful partnership between Editors Victoria/IPEd and members of the Indian editing community.

In professional development news, Nadine Davidoff recently held a pair of online workshops on “Editing point of view in fiction and non-fiction”. It was sold out, and a repeat is being organised for April. Our PD officer, Caroline Arnoul, is also working on plans for a workshop on editing graphic novels, to be held in the next couple of months.

Congratulations to Despina Cook from the University of Queensland, who has just been announced as the winner of the 2024 IPEd Student Prize.

Remember to keep an eye on the Friday weekly email from IPEd Communications for all our events, workshops and get-togethers from now on! I’m looking forward to the Pallavi Narayan Cuppa event, which will take place between 6.00 to 7.00 pm on 18 March via Zoom.

Last month I related the sad news that we lost a great editor and friend in January. As Bridget Blair says in her piece about Jim Hart in this issue, there is no doubt Jim had an impact on publishing and editing in Australia, and he will be missed.

New members

Associate members

  • Emma Hurford
  • Vince Ciccone

Student/graduate members

  • Jamshaid Murtaza

Recommended reading

Our student adviser, Steph Huddleston, found this article in The New York Times a very interesting read recently:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/17/books/booksupdate/hugo-awards-china.html.

If you’ve read something lately that you think may be of interest to others, please let us know by emailing edvic.communicaton@iped-editors.org. We may post it on the Editors Victoria Facebook and LinkedIn pages, which are great places to share resources and interesting tidbits.

Originally appears in https://www.iped-editors.org/newsletters/march-2024-editors-victoria/