Casagrande, June 1966–

(June M. Casagrande)

PERSONAL:

Born March 17, 1966, in New York, NY; daughter of James Casagrande and Janet Little Casagrande (later Johnson). Ethnicity: ‘White.’ Education: University of South Florida, B.A., 1989.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Pasadena, CA. Agent—Laurie Abkemeier, DeFiore and Co., 72 Spring St., Ste. 304, New York, NY 10012. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Business Wire, Los Angeles, CA, editor and proofreader, 1994-2001; Los Angeles Times Community News, Los Angeles, writer, editor, columnist, and reporter, 1996-2004. Union Station Foundation, volunteer, 2004—.

WRITINGS:

Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite, Penguin (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals. Author of the syndicated column ‘A Word, Please."

SIDELIGHTS:

June Casagrande told CA: ‘I wanted to use humor as a way to help people learn about grammar and usage—and especially to draw attention to many popular misconceptions about grammar.

"The idea for my first book evolved out of a column I had been writing for several community newspapers owned by the Los Angeles Times. I had been a staff writer for this newspaper group, during which time I came up with the idea for a weekly grammar column. It quickly evolved into a weekly grammar/humor column.

"After I left the job, I continued writing the column on a freelance basis. Then, one day, I wrote a column in which I used the word ‘wrong’ as an adverb. Two outraged readers wrote to me demanding I print a correction and an apology. There was just one problem: ‘wrong’ is an adverb. That's when my idea to write a funny grammar book finally gelled into Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Grammarsnobs,http://www.grammarsnobs.com (September 25, 2007).