Now in its 16th edition, The Chicago Manual of Style is the must-have reference for everyone who works with words. Explore both the history of this authoritative text and its relevance in an era where instantaneous global publication is only a tap, text, or tweet away. With the rise of the Internet and social media, writing and publishing have become everyday activities with content that doesn’t necessarily pass through traditional filters like copy editors and publishing houses. Is that a good thing? Now that we are all capable of publishing, it seems the importance of editing is greater than ever. Join WBEZ’s Alison Cuddy for a discussion of the Manual’s evolving role in publishing, punctuated by audience polling on matters of usage and style.

Panelists include:

Ben Zimmer - University of Chicago AM’98, former writer of the New York Times Magazine‘s “On Language” column, and Executive Producer of Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com

Carol Fisher Saller - Senior Manuscript Editor for the University of Chicago Press, editor of the popular Chicago Style Q+A and author of The Subversive Copy Editor

Anita Samen - Managing Editor of Books for the University of Chicago Press

Jason Riggle - Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Chicago and Director of the Chicago Language Modeling Laboratory

And if you won’t be able to attend this event live, it will be streamed live on the UChicago Facebook page and audience members everywhere will be invited to participate in the conversation via live polling and by using the Twitter hashtag #centuryofstyle.

Parking: Ample free street parking available along the Midway, and on Blackstone and Dorchester Avenues. Additionally, Valet Parking will be available for $10, courtesy of The University of Chicago.

This event is sponsored in-part by: