Penny Silva – Editor

I was Managing Editor of "A Dictionary of South African English" (1996, OUP, Oxford), responsible for drafting of text right through to proofing the galleys. I then became Deputy Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, then Director of the OED. After retirement I worked for the OED as a part-time revision editor until 2020, and since then have edited scholarly papers and books, on a range of topics, for academics who have English as their second language. I have also edited a 19th-century journal, providing historical context and biography, and hundreds of footnotes. I love editorial work, especially that related to language or history, and really enjoy my growing relationships with authors. I am happy to suggest restructuring a text if that works better, and I don't mind the authors making last-minute changes.

Helping to make the paper or book the best it can be is important to me!