Mary Norris (copy editor)

Mary Norris (born February 7, 1952) is an American author, writer and copy editor for The New Yorker.

Mary Norris
Norris at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born	(1952-02-07) February 7, 1952 (age 70) Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Alma mater	Rutgers University University of Vermont
Occupation(s)	Copy editor, writer, author
Website	commaqueen.net

Early life

Mary Norris was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Rutgers University in 1974 and earned a master's degree in English from the University of Vermont.^[1]

Career

Norris joined the editorial staff at The New Yorker in 1978. She has been a query proofreader at the magazine since 1993. She has also been a contributor to "The Talk of the Town" and The New Yorker website.^[2][3]

Her first book, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, was published by W. W. Norton & Co in 2015.^[4][5] Norris was a finalist in the 2016 Thurber Prize for American Humor for Between You & Me.^[6] She gave a TED talk at TED2016 on the same topic.^[7][8] Her second book, Greek to Me – Adventures of a Comma Queen (2019), explores her relation to foreign languages, particularly to classical Greek.^[9]

References

1. Norris, Mary (February 16, 2015). "Holy Writ". The New Yorker.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. Lyall, Sarah (March 31, 2015). "Mary Norris Muses on a Lifetime of Literary Vigilance in 'Between You & Me'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 9, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
3. Borrelli, Christopher (April 3, 2015). "New Yorker editor makes her mark with new book". Chicago Tribune.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
4. "Between You & Me". wwnorton.com. Retrieved December 9, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
5. McAlpin, Heller (April 8, 2015). "Memoir, Perfectly Punctuated In 'Between You & Me'". NPR. Retrieved June 8, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
6. "Past Thurber Prize Winners and Finalists". Thurber House. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
7. "Mary Norris: The nit-picking glory of The New Yorker's comma queen". TED. February 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
8. Yin, Maryann (April 20, 2016). "Mary Norris Gives a TED Talk on Her Career as a Copy Editor". Galley Cat. Retrieved June 8, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
9. Abbe, Elfrieda (March 29, 2019). "Review: 'Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen,' by Mary Norris". Star Tribune.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

• New Yorker profile