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Anne Curzan

Keynote Speaker

Bestselling author, Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words; Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor of English, Linguistics, and Education, University of Michigan; Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan (2019-2024)

Renowned linguist and beloved word nerd podcaster, Anne Curzan can explain the changes in English we’re witnessing all around us, from texting to business jargon to politeness conventions — and how to effectively navigate communication in our professional and personal lives. Curzan tackles common, often heated usage debates and fields language questions (and peeves!) with thoughtfulness and humor. 

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Anne Curzan Profile Photo

Who knew nerding out about language could be so much fun, and of the utmost importance at the same time? Anne Curzan, a bestselling author and leading expert on English usage, has made a career out of engaging audiences in the power of language (to hurt and to heal, to inform and to misinform, to include and exclude) and the delightful mysteries and quirks of the English language (why is “colonel” spelled like that, and should you pronounce the ‘t’ in “often”?).

Curzan has won multiple awards for research and teaching at the University of Michigan, where she also served as the dean of the liberal arts college. She has been a member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel, hosts a weekly language podcast, and votes on the word of the year for the American Dialect Society. She is regularly described by audiences as one of the best speakers they have heard — deeply knowledgeable and humane, with the ability to make people laugh out loud and reconsider what they thought they knew about how language works.

Curzan’s most recent book, Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words was selected as one of the two top nonfiction books for Fall 2024 by the Next Big Idea Club, curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink.

Curzan’s mission is help everyone—grammar sticklers and self-conscious speakers and writers alike—to become more savvy, informed, confident, and kind users of the language by peeking behind the curtain of who is in charge of the English language and understanding the back story of all those rules we learned in school.

Featured Videos

Anne Curzan Profile Photo
Anne Curzan

Anne Curzan on What Makes a word “Real”

Anne Curzan Profile Photo
Anne Curzan

Anne Curzan on Texting Punctuation

Anne Curzan on What Makes a word “Real”

Anne Curzan on Affirming Negative Assertions

Anne Curzan on Managing Our Inner Grammando

Anne Curzan on Texting Punctuation

Anne Curzan’s Speech Topics

  • What Texting is Doing to English and What to Do About It

    As we navigate workplaces and social lives filled with texting, email, and social media, we are being asked to use written language in new ways. And many of us are understandably worried. Will we be understood? What’s correct usage in which context? r we going to b writing in abbrevs with no caps? Will punctuation disappear? The stakes can seem high, whether in our relationship with our kids or our negotiation of a major deal at work or our need as a doctor to communicate information through the patient portal. In this talk, Anne Curzan explains what linguists see happening with the written language and offers advice about how to navigate the demands and possibilities of different ways of communicating. 

  • Using Our Words Wisely

    Does “irregardless” make you cringe? Do you worry that no one knows how to use the apostrophe anymore? If so, this lively session on language is for you. From her perspective as a historian of the English language, linguist, and longtime English professor, Anne Curzan explains changes happening in spoken and written English and whether we need to worry. Curzan takes head-on specific usage questions — including “who vs. whom,” “less vs. fewer,” “based on vs. based off,” and the perennial favorite “between you and I” — as a former member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage panel and a copy editor. You’ll leave with a heightened awareness of changes afoot in the English language and tools for becoming an even more skilled speaker and writer.

  • Finding Poise and Purpose in Public Speaking

    We often think about public speaking as primarily outward facing, toward an audience who can seem judgmental and scary in the abstract. In this presentation, Anne Curzan helps participants think through all the internal work — work well within our control — that we can and should do to prepare and deliver effective talks that matter to people. And believe it or not, we can even find purpose and joy in the work. This guidance applies to a range of public speaking opportunities (or responsibilities, depending on how you look at it), from presentations in the workplace to speeches in lecture halls to remarks at social gatherings. The talk covers how to harness your expertise and passions to generate ideas worth sharing; how to incorporate narratives; how to craft the arc and language of a presentation; and how to communicate with confidence and poise, including what to do with your hands and feet, as well as the butterflies in your stomach!

Works by Anne Curzan

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Anne Curzan Topics & Types

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