President invites all to the great Oxford comma debate
by Christine Atkinson
Hi all
Should the Oxford, Harvard or serial comma be adopted, used and applied in Australia? If you just shouted an answer, the Great debate between EdsQ (affirmative) and EdWA (negative) is for you. Even if your response was a tepid, ‘meh’, it’ll still be a lot of fun.
And even more fun, just before the debate is the EdsQ Annual Branch Meeting (ABM), AKA the highlight of your annual social calendar.
So, now you’ve had time to think about it, EdsQ is looking for members to join the management committee. Our committee positions include the executive committee (President, Vice-President, Budget Officer, Secretary and Executive Member), Communication Officers, Events and Professional Development Officers and Mentoring Coordinator.
What does being on the committee mean? It depends on the role. Our Events and Professional Development Officers are a busy team who coordinate our member events including monthly meetings or social events, and formal training. The load is shared across several people and it works well when there are three or four people working together. Plus, Ian and Kayt are a fun team!
Another busy team: our Communication Officers, who coordinate content for Gatherings and the branch page on the IPEd website, and assist with promoting events. One of our Communication Officers, Glenine, is stepping down after a few years.
We are also looking to recruit a student member to the committee this year as a Student Liaison Officer.
If you’re interested in any of the positions on the committee, please get in touch via edqld.president@iped-editors.org.
Regards
Christine Atkinson
Social events around the state
by Kayt Duncan
Toowoomba members have been successfully catching up with a cuppa these past two months. Toowoomba region members looking for information about the next social date can contact Region Coordinator Tonia Grundy, tonia.grundy@daf.qld.gov.au.
Brisbane members nearly missed their ‘Chrissy in July’ mid-year social dinner. Thankfully the lockdown throughout the Great South East was short-lived. Venues re-opened and the evening was able to go ahead as planned. The night was full of chat and cheer as we sat and dined under divine outdoor gas heaters. It was so lovely to meet up in person, share a meal, swap conference notes and COVID jokes. A big thank-you to the event organisers as well as the patient travellers contending with the rugby traffic. (Thank you for not turning around and going home.)
Queensland calendar of events
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Wednesday 4 August is our ABM. It will be short and sweet and free to attend. Register here.
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Following straight afterward is our Great two-state debate. Registration is $10 and bookings are open here. Teams from EdWA and EdsQ will vie for the illustrious title of ‘Winner’, arguing the truly important life question: ‘That the Oxford, Harvard or serial comma should be adopted, used and applied in Australia’.
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Saturday 21 August is a lazy lunch in Brisbane at 12pm at the Continental Cafe in New Farm.
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Wednesday 1 September our speaker presentation will be by Grace Lucas-Pennington, author and black&write! Project Editor at SLQ. The black&write! project is the first of its kind in Australia, providing fellowship and mentoring opportunities to First Nations authors and editors. Grace will give us an inside perspective on cultural editing; she works as an editor and mentor to aspiring Australian authors.
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Wednesday 6 October you can turn CSI off because our speaker presentation will be by Meg Vann talking about crime fiction. Gather your forensic questions together, put on your gloves and join us for a fascinating talk on editing crime fiction.
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To end the year off on Wednesday 3 November, we’ll welcome Roslyn Petelin to talk to us about change in language and how it affects editors.
To keep up to date with all the events and activities happening around the state, like the EdsQ Facebook group.