Mollie Nouwen – Editor

I am a history professor, author and writing mentor with more than fifteen years of experience. My career has focused on writing, editing, and research connected to Latin America, particularly the Jewish experience and immigration to the region. I also work as the Modern Argentine History Editor, reviewing the latest publications in English and Spanish for the Handbook on Latin American Studies, published every two years by the Library of Congress. I have published academic articles and a book based on my own research, and have helped others through the academic publishing process. I have also worked with academic publishers to review books and articles to determine their suitability for publication. From graduate theses to manuscripts, first-year college student essays to creative nonfiction, I have reviewed, revised, and helped people at every stage of their academic journey.

I love working on nonfiction, particularly related to History and Latin American Studies. With extensive experience coaching writing, I believe in an empathetic approach to critique. I want to work with you to express your ideas in your own voice in the clearest way possible. I like to approach the document from multiple perspectives -- I examine how the writing and style convey your points at the level of sentences and paragraphs, the organization of the document as you move from point to point, how the text as a whole works (including transitions), and which sections need more attention or for which I have questions regarding their viability. My preference is to work on a document where I can ask a lot of questions, make comments, and even get down to the level of word choice. Precision is important to me, and I use different colors to indicate the level of editing, from grammatical confusion to questioning a line of argument. Communication is essential in this work, and I believe my role is to help you create the clearest and best-organized text, while maintaining your key ideas and voice. Together we can achieve your writing goals in a constructive and supportive environment.

I have experience working with Spanish speakers who want to publish in English, but need help getting their work into shape. I strive to understand the impetus and thoughts behind a text, rather than just responding to the words on the page. I write in English, but much of the written work I engage with is in Spanish, which requires a high level of fluency in the language. Because I work between the two languages, I have experience translating works from Spanish to English, and assisting in the editing of the new text with the Spanish-language authors. For writers new to publishing in English, having a trusted English-language editor (who also speaks Spanish) to help get your work ready to submit is vital.