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​Lourdes Venard

Editor, instructor, author

“Her guidance was invaluable.”
- Client Al Pessin in Writer's Digest

Upcoming in Spring 2027: The Collaborative Editor: How to Build Trust with Writers Through Queries and Other Communications by Christine Steele and Lourdes Venard (The University of Chicago Press).
Unsolicited testimonial from one client, filmed by the Editorial Freelancers Association, of which I am a member and teaching instructor.

About me

  • I have a journalism background, but have edited a wide variety of material, from fiction to nonfiction, and currently work for a nonpartisan education nonprofit.​
  • I am a co-lead instructor for the University of California, San Diego Extended Studies Copyediting Certificate program.
  • I also teach copyediting through the Editorial Freelancers Association, the largest group in the United States for freelance editors.
  • As a journalist, I was a copyeditor at Newsday, The Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Florida Today. I was part of copyediting teams for coverage that won two staff Pulitzer Prize awards.
  • I was on the advisory board for The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition.
  • I truly have no preference for Oxford comma or not. I've used both in my working life. My preference is for clarity.