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Editing the language of illness: With Louise Bolotin
Episode 91

Editing the language of illness: With Louise Bolotin

The Editing Podcast · Louise Harnby (fiction editor) and Denise Cowle (non-fiction editor)

May 11, 202226m 40s

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Show Notes

Should editors be interrogating the language of illness? We chat with Louise Bolotin about challenging normative narratives around cancer and terminal illness.

Listen to find out more about

  • Louise Bolotin's cancer diagnosis
  • Why the language preferences of those with terminal illnesses aren't homogenous
  • Terms in the language of illness that can hurt and harm
  • Why editors have a duty to challenge normative narratives that sugarcoat dying and death
  • How asking how a person wants to talk about terminal illness is better than assuming

Note: Louise Bolotin died in 2022. We're grateful for the time she gave us on this podcast.

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Denise and Louise


Music credit

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/