Emily Gref

After receiving her BA in Linguistics from McGill University, Emily spent seven years pursuing a career in publishing in New York City, working in bookstores, interning at major publishing houses, and finally landing at a small literary agency, where she did everything from representing authors to selling foreign rights to analyzing royalties. During that time, she developed her editorial skills and discovered a love of spreadsheets and their ability to organize information and analyze data.

Her interest in linguistics called her back, however, and she eventually left NYC and publishing to receive her MA in Language Documentation & Description from SOAS, University of London. While in London, she helped to publish an illustrated storybook in Sylheti, a minority language of Bangladesh. Emily continued to use her publishing skill set for minority languages when she moved to Kununurra, Australia, where she acted as a special publications intern for the Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring Language Centre, helping the Indigenous Miriwoong community publish a dictionary and storybooks in their language.

Before and after her MA, Emily worked as a copy editor for an online news outlet and for various freelance clients. Upon returning from Australia, she joined the team working to build Planet Word, a new museum about words and language in Washington, D.C. At Planet Word, Emily acted as the Exhibit Content Manager, working closely with the founder and exhibit design firm to manage the creation of all the content that would populate the museum’s exhibits. The museum opened in October 2020 and is well worth a visit if you love words, languages, and books!

Emily is thrilled to be bringing her project management skills and editorial expertise to Dragonfly. Outside of work, she can be found reading, taking nature walks and birding in beautiful Sullivan County, NY, and working with the Endangered Language Alliance to continue publishing books in minority languages.