After careers in government and the media, Neil James worked as a freelance writer and editor before specialising in plain English. He co-founded Plain English Foundation in Australia in 2003 and served as its Executive Director for more than 20 years. Neil has a doctorate in English from the University of Sydney. He has published two books – Modern Manglish (Scribe, 2012) and Writing at Work (Allen and Unwin, 2007) – and more than 100 articles and essays on literature and language. Neil remains active in plain language internationally. He was founding Chair of the International Plain Language Federation and later Chair of the Federation’s Certification Committee before returning as overall Federation Chair. He has also served as President of Plain Language Association International (PLAIN) and editor of the PLAIN e-journal. He was awarded PLAIN’s Christine Mowat Award in 2019.
