Editorial Freelancers Association
Member Profile
Judy Levin
I have thirty years of editorial experience working at HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, and George Braziller and then as a freelancer. I can copyedit and proofread almost anything I’m capable of reading (so, law or medicine, but only as written for the general reader); I am a developmental editor who has worked on fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults.
My academic background is in English literature and in folklore, which is problematic because even folklorists can’t describe what we do: not fairytales–or, at least, not only fairytales. I studied–and have written about and edited books or articles on–the ethnography of communications, oral history, ethnobotany, food traditions, regional architecture, traditional medicine, lesbian communities, and housework. I have also published biographies (Ichiro to Hugo Chavez to Hammurabi), science books for children, and, most recently, a book called Soda and Fizzy Drink: A Global History (Reaktion, 2021). My greatest strength is that I’m interested in everything.
I recently edited chapters of a book called Inside Out and Outside In, an introductory textbook on psychological theory for social workers and clinicians. I helped scholars write about their areas of expertise so that their work was accessible to beginners, worked with clinicians who are not primarily writers, and generally made sure that everyone was saying what they meant to say as clearly and gracefully as possible.
I give tours at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum where we tell the true stories of immigrants, migrants, and refugees who lived in our historic buildings.
Email: Judylevin@earthlink.net
https://judylevineditor.mystrikingly.com
Years in the field: 30
Years freelancing: 25
Judy Levin
I have thirty years of editorial experience working at HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, and George Braziller and then as a freelancer. I can copyedit and proofread almost anything I’m capable of reading (so, law or medicine, but only as written for the general reader); I am a developmental editor who has worked on fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults.
My academic background is in English literature and in folklore, which is problematic because even folklorists can’t describe what we do: not fairytales–or, at least, not only fairytales. I studied–and have written about and edited books or articles on–the ethnography of communications, oral history, ethnobotany, food traditions, regional architecture, traditional medicine, lesbian communities, and housework. I have also published biographies (Ichiro to Hugo Chavez to Hammurabi), science books for children, and, most recently, a book called Soda and Fizzy Drink: A Global History (Reaktion, 2021). My greatest strength is that I’m interested in everything.
I recently edited chapters of a book called Inside Out and Outside In, an introductory textbook on psychological theory for social workers and clinicians. I helped scholars write about their areas of expertise so that their work was accessible to beginners, worked with clinicians who are not primarily writers, and generally made sure that everyone was saying what they meant to say as clearly and gracefully as possible.
I give tours at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum where we tell the true stories of immigrants, migrants, and refugees who lived in our historic buildings.
