President’s report
by Margaret Trudgeon AE
I would like to congratulate two of our committee members who have been invited to join the new IPEd Emerging Leaders Program. Sophie Chan and Thirangie Jayatilake have been offered support from IPEd to attend the upcoming conference if they are able and other benefits to support them along their editing pathways. They have both worked very hard in their positions on the Editors Victoria committee to promote and support IPEd, and we wish them both great success as leaders in the editing profession.
At the moment everyone is talking about the upcoming conference and what sessions they are planning to attend. I’m looking forward to Roly Sussex’s interesting and often funny insights into the world of grammar and language, and hearing Dr Eugen Bacon’s keynote on Thursday. I’m also looking forward to the session on how sensitivity readings have changed writing, on the final afternoon.
On 23 May I hosted the EdVic Student Cuppa alongside Rachel Chopping, our projects and outreach officer. We hold these cuppas twice a year with a panel of three editors to talk to current editing students about their experiences in the industry and to answer their burning questions. This year’s panellists were Tom Linkins, Shristi Kapoor and Shannon Grey, with questions fielded by Rachel. Once again there was lively discussion about how the panellists got into editing and secured their first editing jobs. It’s great to be able to fly the flag for Editors Victoria and IPEd and inform the attendees about the many benefits of belonging to our organisation – we even had one person join up afterwards directly because of the cuppa! We were also joined by our newest committee member and student advisor, Amber Hall. Welcome Amber!
Coming up on 27 June, Sophie Splatt, a senior editor of books for children and young adults at Allen & Unwin, will speak on the process of editing graphic novels, which should give us some fascinating insight into this visual and creative world and its unique considerations. There are plans for Sophie to run a multi-part workshop later in the year on the same subject.
EdVic will be hosting a networking lunch in June, after we had to postpone the one planned for May (apologies to anyone who was hoping to attend). The new date is 20 June at the Arcadia cafe in Fitzroy. It’s a chance to catch up with other editors who may be heading to the conference. We hope to see you there!
Finally, look out for Kylie’s report on the recent EdVic event on editing annual reports – a very informative session and applicable to other types of non-fiction editing – and Joyce’s review of a webinar on cookbook editing – it’s trickier than you could imagine!
Welcome to our new members
Student and graduate members:
- Charlotte Paige Fraser
Associate member:
- Andrea Cosentino
- Aiden O’Hehir
Getting to know the Editors Victoria committee: Cecile Shanahan, Communications, Editors Victoria
I am an editor and proofreader who has a very special interest in children’s and young adult publishing. I joined Editors Victoria as an associate member at the same time as starting my freelance business (about 10 years ago). Soon after I became a professional member and then joined the branch committee in 2022. I really enjoy the collegiality of being on the committee and the collaborative nature of the work that we undertake. The in-person events are always such fun too!
I live on Dja Dja Wurrung Country (Bendigo) with my family – many animals, my husband, 3 kids and 1000s of books – and when I’m not editing I’m a co-curator of Bendigo Writers Festival, a writing prize judge and a book reviewer/bookstagrammer.
I have tertiary qualifications in journalism, English literature, education and, of course, editing and proofreading – and I am always keen to study and keep learning. I plan on finally sitting the IPEd accreditation exam next year; twice I’ve been all set to do it, but had to change plans at the last minute so I’m hoping 2026 is my year.