Perfecting texts
for the world of art and ideas
I'm Neil – a British editor and writer, living today in Copenhagen. This is the Language Laundromat.
For nearly twenty years, I’ve edited texts for print and broadcast, for academics, writers, institutions and businesses, from proofing for print to deep linguistic editing. I've worked with thinkers and institutions as diverse as Disney and the art historian John Berger.
I like language.
My first book, shortlisted for the John Rhys Llewellyn Prize for Literature, was about an extinct Southern African language. My own writing for digital formats has won recognition from the likes of BAFTA and the Cannes Lions.
Much of my recent editing work has been for Scandinavian writers and institutions, most of it with a focus on art, research and literature.
I've worked with academics, writers, institutions and businesses of many different kinds. I've written scripts for children’s television, texts for the theatre and experimental performance, narratives for independent and AAA computer games, and interactive texts for unusual digital formats.
My edits have been published by the Oxford University Press, Bloomsbury, and Penguin, among others, and by academic and art publishers.
Who do I work with? And what can I do for you?
"I cannot recommend the linguistic editing skills of Neil Bennun too warmly. In two monographs (at Oxford University Press and Bloomsbury Academic) as well as in a number of articles and applications, Neil has managed to turn my mixture of Danish and English into lucid and graceful academic English. Surprisingly, readers have asked me why I am so good at writing English. The answer is simple: it's not me".
Isak Winkel Holm
Everyone should go to print with the precision and clarity their ideas deserve.
If you're publishing a book-length text in English but English isn't your first language, the deeper linguistic edit you might need should serve your authorial voice.
For all authors, simple proofing for publication is an essential stage of the work.
"Neil works with an extraordinary literary and technical facility. His editing is rigorous, sensitive, and alive to nuance and context. He approaches this work in a spirit of friendly collaboration and I recommend him without a second's hesitation".
Devika Sharma
Texts by researchers often require specialised terms and language. You might even need to invent your own.
Artistic research, particularly, can take untraditional forms. These almost certainly reflect the artist's practice, the subject of the research, the way the research is conducted.
But what doesn't change is the need for clarity – even for the most 'difficult' texts.
Cultural and political contexts are important, too. My edits are made with sensitivity to language and ideas related to gender, neurodiversity and the various legacies of colonialism.
"I have a rather unique trust in Neil as a sort of co-shaper of my text work. I guess this is the labour of the editor; to shape and go unnoticed (by many). But Neil engages with what I am trying to express to a degree and with so much genuine curiosity that editing also becomes a most valuable process of critical scrutiny. I can not recommend him enough."
Eva La Cour
"Neil is the most thorough editor I've yet encountered; meticulous, nuanced and unphased, no matter how tricky or experimental the material".
Ant Hampton
Borderline Visible
Winner, IDFA DocLab Special Jury Award for Creative Technology, 2024
"... også denne opgave løste Neil excellent, idet han fuldt ud formåede at kombinere teknisk akkuratesse med poetisk empati og taktisk opfindsomhed. Jeg vil uden tøven anbefale Neil Bennun til enhver tekstproducent, der opererer i et område noget lignende det, jeg her har søgt at skitsere".
Jørgen Michaelsen
There's a difference between artistic research texts, art writing, and writing about art. Artists usually do the first two; critics, curators and historians usually do the third.
Some texts are intended to be read as 'works' in their own right. They might use language in experimental ways, or have idiosyncratic typography, rules, perhaps deliberate 'errors'.
It's essential for an editor to be alive to context and logic when working with language like this.
Stories are text hungry.
For the screen, there are treatments, synopses, scene-by-scene outlines and formatted manuscripts. These take different shapes depending on who's going to be reading them.
Digital narratives and custom-made media often need texts specific to the format. This might be a formatted screenplay or spreadsheet.
I write, edit and translate these.
I've translated screenplays, played the role of script editor and written for television, computer games and large-scale participative and location-specific performance work.
I can help with texts related to any of the stages of production.
"Neil's approach to translation and text is cooperative and literary, and shows a deep and practiced understanding of the way that narrative works. Working with him is a great pleasure."
Endre Lund Eriksen
Institutions produce newsletters, press releases, brochures, books and web pages.
Galleries and museums write guides and wall texts.
Texts like these often deal with cultural figures, art historical themes, ideas, periods and traditions of thought.
They commonly have to communicate complicated ideas to a general audience.
In Scandinavia, these kinds of texts are frequently published bilingually. I work with these.
Contributors to specialist journals can come from many different countries, written with varying degrees of proficiency, and following style conventions of different kinds.
Edits usually have to be made quickly. There's always a little discussion in the comments column.
Clarifying meaning and suggesting alternatives is best done in a friendly and collaborative way, making the process both easy and comfortable for the journal's contributors and editorial team and the articles readable for the specialist audience.
"The importance of a good copy editor in academic publishing is demonstrated when you work with Neil Bennun, who has been editing our academic articles the last couple of years. Neil does not just make sure the text is grammatically solid, but also suggests ways the language can be adjusted according to context, tone and style. It is a joy to have such a copyeditor when working in publishing. Even though he hates it, he is also really good with fixing references (just saying). His way of communicating is always friendly - both in his comments to the text and in e-mails. And he's fast-working."
Ragnild Lome, Journal Manager, Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies
I've edited product copy, support guides, promotional material and text of all sorts for businesses with a web presence, largely for internationally-facing clients in the UK, Denmark and Norway.
For businesses everywhere, good and idiomatic English is pretty crucial for many reasons – especially if you're selling to anglophone countries.
Some of my work
Artists, researchers and authors: Eva La Cour (DK), Anne Haaning (DK), John Berger (FR/UK), Nick Ryan (UK), Devika Sharma (DK), Jakob Kulberg (DK), Ida Marie Hede (DK), Ant Hampton (DE/UK), Jørgen Michaelsen (DK), Isak Winkel Holm (DK), Endre Lund Eriksen (NO), Hege Kristine (NO), Birgitte Grande, Jarkko Kosonen (FI), Jenna Vekkaila, Henri Pullinen, Vilde Opdan Yttereng, Anders Theis Bollmann, Therese Heltberg, Maj Hedegaard Heiselberg (DK), Linda Hart, Erasmus Häggblom (SE), Antti-Tuomas Pulkka (FI), Ayfer Genç Yılmaz (TUR), Mathieu Landriault, Gabrielle LaFortune, Aida Alvinius, Sofia Nilsson, Camilla Sjölén, Gerry Larsson, Matti Puranen (FI), Sanna Kopra.
Institutions, businesses, broadcasters, developers: BBC (UK), ArtHub (DK), Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies (DK), Robin Hood Museum (UK), Squint/opera (UK), SomethinElse (UK), Channel Four (UK), Åsnes (NO), Ubisoft (UK), Relentless (UK), Sony (UK/JP), Sensible Object (UK), Niantic (UK), Modern Games (UK), UYoung (Tian Jin), Animation Culture & Media Co Ltd, Millimages (KOR), TakToon (PRC), Jellyvision (US), Serious Games (UK), Rockstar (UK/US), Pixel Artworks (UK), Internet of Elephants (Kenya, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (US)Museum Jorn (DK), University of Copenhagen, Institut for Kunst- og Kulturvidenskab (DK), Malmö University (SE), University of Gothenburg (SE), Lundhags (SE), Åsnes (NO), Kirk & Kirk (UK).