Allison Van Deventer

@allisonvandev

Developmental editor for academic authors. Author: The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook (UChicago Press). Workshop facilitator. She/her. Comp lit PhD.

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Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· 5d

This summer, my family and I are rewarding ourselves for working on “projects” with these tiny animals. We are learning cursive, learning to type, practicing Portuguese, reading the Iliad, practicing the piano, exercising, and writing encrypted messages. We are obsessed.

Around 15 tiny, cute, translucent plastic animals grouped on a coffee table.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· 13d

Authors of scholarly books: we're giving another free workshop! Your table of contents can yield a surprising amount of insight into your book-in-progress if you ask the right questions. Come with your list of chapters, and let's see what we can find! us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Promotional image with a pink background. Text reads Assessing your book's table of contents: A free Zoom workshop. Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 2-3:30pm ET. Katelyn E. Knox and Allison Van Deventer.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Apr 16

A fresh batch of library books from my gorgeous local public library

Stack of library books: Darkology, More Than Words: How to think about writing in the age of AI, Daughter of Genoa, A Legacy of Murder, Bonsai: the art of growing and keeping miniature trees, Librarian Spy. The books are resting on a table with high arched library shelves in the background.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Apr 1

Just look at that gorgeous table of contents! Certain passages from this book have stuck in my mind like scenes from novels. www.dukeupress.edu/racial-beings

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. Human: Reading Besides the Individual Racialized Subject 1
1. Object: Excavating Waste’s Ecologies of Entanglement 25
2. Gene: Rethinking Clone Fiction’s Consciousness 57
3. Element: Relating Water’s Phase Changes 93
4. Species: Reorienting Alien Encounters 127
5. Atom: Dissipating Nuclear Exceptionalism 159
Conclusion. Race: Accessing a Multiverse of Matter and Meaning 189
Notes 199
Bibliography 225
Index

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Apr 1

"What can matter such as gravel tell us about race, a characteristic often conceived as intrinsically human?" "Racial Beings: Experiments in Asian American New Materialisms" by @nancyhelicopter.bsky.social (@dukepress.bsky.social) is dazzling and unforgettable, and I'm honored to have worked on it.

Cover of Racial Beings: Experiments in Asian American New Materialisms by Michelle N. Huang. The cover is an abstract image in yellow, pink, and blue.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Mar 3

When the cat’s away on a book fellowship, the mice will play, i.e., overhaul the entire workshop you designed together, oops @katelynknox.bsky.social

Text me exchange between Katelyn and me;
Looking forward to debriefing the new and improved BCS with you at some point
Ahahaha it's pretty different
You're going to be like, oh no, what kind of mischief did Allison get up to in my absence
No, I know it ROCKS

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Feb 24

Dreaming of a lovely vacation last week: 8 adults and 8 kids in a giant house on the frozen Maine coast

A table in a sunroom looking out on the ocean on a cloudy day. The table is covered with craft supplies: watercolors, knitting, embroidery.

The same table on a sunny day, with a sketchbook with a different watercolor of the same coastal view.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Dec 7

Haha, fair enough, you have me beat then!

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Dec 3

Our 7yo doesn’t say “67” at school because he‘s a conscientious child who doesn’t want to disrupt the class, but at home he can’t resist pointing it out

Fraction magnets on the refrigerator, showing 6/7.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Dec 3

Yesterday I spoke with a scholarly book author who's experiencing a common struggle: she doesn't know how to break the writing/revision process into manageable parts and prioritize them. Good news: I have a workshop for that! Join me starting Jan 27 to tackle a major chapter revision! #AcademicSky

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Nov 5

She did it! Woburn has a new school committee (=school board) member who is an immigrant and speaks Spanish! We knocked on so many doors and had so many conversations, and now the person who gives Know Your Rights presentations has her own seat at the table of our little city's government.

Selfie: I'm outside in a suburban neighborhood on a sunny day, wearing a green puffer coat and a blue knitted cap, smiling and holding a Maria Teresa Nagel campaign sign.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Nov 1

OK Woburn, let's GOTV! Maria Teresa Nagel for school committee, let's gooooo!

Selfie: I'm standing outside, looking sort of disheveled, smiling, wearing a black sweater, and holding campaign literature for Maria Teresa Nagel.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Oct 26

Town Halloween parade, fifth-grade float, let’s gooooo

Selfie of me standing in a parking lot, dressed in black and wearing sunglasses, with a fake tombstone tied around my neck reading “Albie Back.”

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Oct 23

Something I've heard a lot in the past few months: "I got my PhD in [year between 2015 and 2020]. I've been spinning my wheels on this dissertation-to-book manuscript ever since. I feel so self-conscious / discouraged / alone / bogged down / embarrassed about how long it's taking."

View of a lake in France, with green bushes in the foreground, the turquoise lake in the middle ground, and gentle green hills in the background, with a moody, cloudy sky.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Oct 16

Report from local politics: I'm having a ton of fun helping campaign for our school board candidate (Latina woman running in a historically blue-collar conservative suburb with lots of immigrants). So many unexpected connections! So much strategizing with friends! So many great text threads!

Four people, including me, standing on a street corner holding signs for Maria Teresa Nagel.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Oct 3

Authors of scholarly books: Are you struggling with perfectionism? Are you overwhelmed by the sheer number of things you have to do to finish your manuscript? Here's @katelynknox.bsky.social with a suggestion: find a way to get regular, low-stakes feedback on your writing.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Oct 2

Did some door-knocking for our school committee candidate; engaged in some light political bribery (giving the 7yo Skittles per door knocked/opened)

Selfie: I'm a white woman with a brown bob, smiling at the camera on a neighborhood street in suburban Massachusetts.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Oct 2

Congratulations to Seçil Daǧtaş, an early alum of The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook, whose timely and beautiful book "Under the Same Sky: Everyday Politics of Religious Difference in Southern Turkey" is out from the University of Pennsylvania Press! (1/2) www.pennpress.org/978151282771...

cover image of Under the Same Sky: Everyday Politics of Religious Difference in Southern Turkey by Seçil Daǧtaş. The cover shows a painting of crowd of people, many with pink shadows.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Sep 19

Last spring, our older kid gave a prepared speech to the school committee (= school board) about the lack of vegetarian and multicultural options on the school lunch menu. (All on his own initiative—he's the only vegetarian in our family! Though I did help) And his effort paid off!

clip of our school lunch menu saying "We heard you!! Now vegetarian meals offered everyday!"

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Sep 4

Reminder: Sign up for the 6-Week Dissertation-to-Book Workshop by September 12 to get the Early Bird discount! You may be wondering whether it makes sense to commit to a synchronous workshop this fall. What if you get sick, get busy, are overwhelmed by outside events, fall behind?

The Facilitated Dissertation-to-Book Workshop: 6 Weeks to Book Clarity. Sept 22-Oct 31, 2025. Katelyn E. Knox and Allison Van Deventer.
List of points: Get your vision for your book down on the page. Hammer out your book argument. Map your chapter arguments and narrative arc. Test your choices and explore alternatives. Make a revision plan. Gain confidence and clarity with supportive peers. Zoom sessions: Mon and Wed, 1-2pm ET

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Sep 2

Free webinar on Friday, Sept 5 for authors of scholarly books: Identifying Your Audience and Target Presses! @katelynknox.bsky.social and I will talk about how to name your audience, adjust your manuscript for it, and identify presses that will get your book to it. Join us on Zoom: bit.ly/3Uk0KBS

Identifying your audience and target publishers: A FREE webinar. Friday, Sept 5, 2025, 12-1:30pm ET. Academic Book Central. Katelyn E. Knox and Allison Van Deventer. Small picture of Allison and Katelyn smiling together at a conference.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 25

Door knocking in New England: caught in a sudden downpour edition

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 21

One author described the Dissertation-to-Book workshop as creating "a sense of community so palpable that we all felt seen, heard, and accompanied." Another wrote that we gave her "foolproof tools that have helped me move forward even amid my deepest feelings of stuckness and self doubt." Join us!

Promo image on the left: The Facilitated Dissertation-to-Book Workshop: 6 Weeks to Book Clarity. Sept 22-Oct 31, 2025. Katelyn E. Knox and Allison Van Deventer. On the top right: me smiling and looking interested (or maybe kind of derpy) on Zoom; on the bottom right: slide from Week 2 of our workshop: Challenges you'd like help with?

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 20

The stuffed penguins have developed a passion for the board game Splendor, and our 7yo is playing actual games with them. (In pairs, because penguins need a little extra help.)

My coffee table covered with cards and tokens from the board game Splendor, with six stuffed penguins posed on cushions around it.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 14

Because there's so much that's despair-inducing these days, I'm making an effort to spend time on things that bring me joy. I picked up a set of travel watercolors and a sketchbook for the first time in two decades! I had grand visions of painting with the kids, but they got bored and wandered off

Very amateurish watercolor of a villa with a red roof on a turquoise lake

Another amateur watercolor of a white house with a red roof and a hedge

watercolor of a Venice canal, kind of bendy because I didn't do a great job of painting straight lines

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 14

Calling everyone who's taken one of our multi-session workshops: We have a new writing group just for you! Are you still working on your book—or a new book, or an article? Would you like to keep the magic going? If so, join me to check in and problem-solve and get things done! bit.ly/45hFT8t

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 13

Last night my kids and I went door-knocking with a new candidate for school committee (= school board; it's a highly competitive election here). She's the Director of Immigrant Services in a nearby city, a native Spanish speaker, and I'm hoping SO HARD that she wins a seat

double of selfie of me with Maria Teresa Nagel, both smiling

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 4

Just got back from our annual camping trip with friends, and I think I can sum it up by saying I didn't realize it was possible for four 10yos to find so much to say about D&D

A sandy beach at a pond on Cape Cod; the sky is cloudy and the beach is empty except for one child emerging from the water.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Aug 1

@ebrenner.bsky.social, your very helpful marketing worksheet pairs well with hammocks and fresh air!

Digital marketing strategy worksheet from Right Touch Editing, with a hammock, my sandaled foot, and trees in the background.

Allison Van Deventer@allisonvandev· Jul 28

DIY childcare swap "camp," 8 kids ages 6-10 at our house, let's gooooooo