The Hill School’s 2010-2011 Writers at Work series kicked off on Thursday, October 4 with a visit from Merrill Perlman, former New York Times copy editor.

Perlman spent the day on campus speaking with students and faculty in Hill’s English classes. During her presentations, Perlman provided students tips on how to succeed in the writing world, such as how to implement proper punctuation placements and avoid confusing word choices. She also recounted her experiences with journalism and provided her audience with a glimpse of what it takes to be a copy editor. To offer hands-on experience, Perlman had students engage in activities that allowed for them to create their own headlines, correct problem sentences, and draft their own grammatically correct phrases.

Perlman currently serves as an editing consultant to news companies, private businesses, and non-profit organizations; she also writes the “Language Corner” column for the Columbia Review. She spent much of her career as an editor at The New York Times. She joined The Times in 1983 as a business copy editor, and later served as chief of the Metropolitan copy desk, an assistant Metro editor, an editor in the Week in Review section, manager of copy desk recruiting and managing editor of The New York Times News Service. She also helped to finish the most recent revision of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. Before coming to The Times, Perlman worked at The Des Moines Register and The Southern Illinoisan newspaper in Carbondale, Ill. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and a master’s degree from Drake University.

The next Writer at Work is New York Times economics columnist and blog editor, Catherine Rampell, who will visit Hill on October 25, 2010.