I am an editor, writer, and now part-time professor of nineteenth-century US literature located in Portland, OR. I have courtesy appointments in the Program in Comparative Literature at Reed College and the English Department at Portland State University. I received the PhD in English and American Literature from NYU and have also completed a certificate in Editing from the University of Chicago.

I’ve spent nearly three decades in the classroom, where I was lucky enough to be able to share my enthusiasm for US literature with students, while helping them develop both their ideas and their prose.

Currently I am the external editor for American Art. Previously I’ve edited the American Literary History Review, J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, and Nineteenth-Century Studies. I’ve also evaluated articles, books, and fellowship applications for national prizes and even created a prize for scholars in US literature, the 1921 Prize in American Literature.

Click here to download a copy of my CV.

I am the author of American Tyrannies in the Long Age of Napoleon (Oxford University Press, 2023) and Loyal Subjects: Bonds of Nation, Race, and Allegiance in Nineteenth-Century America (Rutgers University Press, 2010). With Claudia Stokes, I edited The Gates Ajar (Penguin, 2019) and, with Cheryl Tevlin, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps: Selected Tales, Essays, and Poems (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). My articles have appeared in numerous books and journals, covering a wide range of topics and authors across the long nineteenth century.

At present I have several new projects underway. I am writing a biography of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, supported in 2020–2021 by an NEH faculty fellowship, as well as a second book on tyranny in the United States. I am also translating of Victor Séjour’s Richard III (from French to English) so that this fascinating nineteenth-century play will be available to a wider range of US readers.

My scholarship informs the work I do with editing clients. Because I am keenly aware of the challenges associated with academic writing and the importance of successfully placing such work with journals and presses, I am well poised to help my clients succeed.

As your editor, I would support you in honing your thinking, clarifying your arguments, and sharpening your prose. I am happy to work on projects at any stage—from conception to completion—and am comfortable in a range of narrative disciplines across the humanities and social sciences for either academic or trade nonfiction audiences. I am arguably best at developmental editing but am also available for line editing, copy editing, and coaching. I have won—and judged— national fellowships and am also available for consultations about application packets.

I have worked with clients from the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Notre Dame University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of California, Santa Barbara, Stanford University, Rutgers University, and Syracuse University, among others.

Developmental editing focuses on the structure and logic of an argument, how it unfolds across the article, chapter, or monograph. A developmental editor can be helpful as a project is taking shape, if it gets stuck, or when a full draft is done. When I work as a developmental editor, I aim to provide generative and constructive feedback that will strengthen the work in multiple ways.

Line editing polishes prose, fixing unwieldy sentences and aiming for a crisp economy of expression. The aim of a line editor is to refine the author’s style.

Copy editing identifies errors, addresses gaps or lapses of prose style, and creates consistency across a text. I am skilled in both MLA and Chicago styles and capable of working in APA as well.

Fellowship or job applications, like all genres, have conventions. I work with authors and applicants to make sure their materials attract interest and attention.

Indexing provides a structure that makes it easier for readers to access the ideas in a book. For an example of my work as an indexer, see Mary Poovey, A History of the Modern Fact.