The Critic and Her Publics

Sasha Weiss is a writer and the deputy culture editor at The New York Times Magazine. Previously she was the literary editor at The New Yorker and an editor at The New York Review of Books. _________________________________ The Critic and Her Publics Hosted by Merve Emre • Edited by Michele Moses • Music by Dani Lencioni • Art by Leanne Shapton • Sponsored by Alfred A. Knopf The Critic and Her Publics is a co-production between the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, New York Review of Books, and Lit Hub.

Radhika Jones, former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, shares her journey in the media landscape. She discusses her mission to diversify content and the dynamic relationship between editors and writers in celebrity culture. The conversation dives into Vanity Fair's portrayal of power and identity, exploring the psychological depth behind media storytelling. Jones also reflects on the authenticity of public figures and the unique challenges female leaders face in the industry. She emphasizes the importance of listening and thoughtful decision-making in leadership roles.

Zakiya Dalila Harris received her MFA in creative writing from The New School. Her debut novel, The Other Black Girl, was an instant New York Times bestseller and is now a critically acclaimed Hulu Original Series. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Cosmopolitan, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband._________________________________The Critic and Her PublicsHosted by Merve Emre • Edited by Michele Moses • Music by Dani Lencioni • Art byLeanne Shapton • Sponsored by Alfred A. KnopfThe Critic and Her Publics is a co-production between the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, New York Review of Books, and Lit Hub.

Fergus McIntosh is the head research editor at The New Yorker and runs the magazine's fact-checking department._________________________________The Critic and Her PublicsHosted by Merve Emre • Edited by Michele Moses • Music by Dani Lencioni • Art byLeanne Shapton • Sponsored by Alfred A. KnopfThe Critic and Her Publics is a co-production between the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, New York Review of Books, and Lit Hub.

Jackson Howard is an editor and writer from Los Angeles who lives in Brooklyn.He’s Senior Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and its imprints MCD and AUWA (headed by Questlove), where he acquires and edits a broad range of fiction and nonfiction. Writers he has published include Judith Butler, Brontez Purnell, Catherine Lacey, Bryan Washington, Laura van den Berg, Sarah Schulman, Jonathan Escoffery, Fernando A. Flores, Susan Straight, Imogen Binnie, Shon Faye, Henry Hoke, Thomas Grattan, Venita Blackburn, Missouri Williams, and many others. Books he has edited have won or been nominated for the Booker Prize, the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the PEN Open Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Los Angeles Times Award for First Fiction.A longtime Pitchfork contributor, his reviews, profiles, and essays have also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Cut, Rolling Stone, The Ringer, W., i-D, office, Document, and elsewhere.In 2023, he was featured in New York magazine’s Power Issue and was named one of Harper’s BAZAAR’s 36 Voices of Now and part of Town & Country’s Creative Aristocracy. In 2022, he was named a Star Watch Honoree by Publishers Weekly._________________________________The Critic and Her PublicsHosted by Merve Emre • Edited by Michele Moses • Music by Dani Lencioni • Art byLeanne Shapton • Sponsored by Alfred A. KnopfThe Critic and Her Publics is a co-production between the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, New York Review of Books, and Lit Hub.

Meghan O'Rourke is a writer, poet, and editor. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness (2022); the bestselling memoir The Long Goodbye (2011); and the poetry collections Sun In Days (2017), which was named a New York Times Best Poetry Book of the Year; Once (2011); and Halflife (2007), which was a finalist for the Patterson Poetry Prize and Britain’s Forward First Book Prize. O’Rourke is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Fellowship, a Whiting Nonfiction Award, the May Sarton Poetry Prize, the Union League Prize for Poetry from the Poetry Foundation, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and two Pushcart Prizes. Currently the editor of The Yale Review, she began her career as a fiction and nonfiction editor at The New Yorker. Since then, she has served as culture editor and literary critic for Slate as well as poetry editor and advisory editor for The Paris Review. Her essays, criticism, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Slate, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, and Best American Poetry, among others. She is a graduate of Yale University, where she also teaches.Hosted by Merve Emre • Edited by Michele Moses • Music by Dani Lencioni • Art byLeanne Shapton • Sponsored by Alfred A. KnopfThe Critic and Her Publics is a co-production between the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, New York Review of Books, and Lit Hub.

Kaitlyn Greenidge is the author of Libertie and We Love You, Charlie Freeman, one of the New York Times Critics' Top 10 Books of 2016. Her writing has appeared in the Vogue, Glamour,the Wall Street Journal, Elle, Buzzfeed, Transition Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, American Short Fiction and other places. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and the Guggenheim Foundation. She is currently Features Director at Harper’s Bazaar as well as a contributing writer for The New York Times.Recorded October 18, 2024 at the Shapiro Center at Wesleyan UniversityEdited by Michele MosesMusic by Dani LencioniArt by Leanne ShaptonSponsored by Alfred A. KnopfThe Critic and Her Publics is a production of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, New York Review of Books, and Literary Hub.

Emily Greenhouse, editor of the New York Review of Books and former managing editor of The New Yorker, shares her journey from rejection to leadership in journalism. She discusses the balance of motherhood and career, shedding light on the unique challenges women face in the field. Greenhouse tackles the complexities of editorial decisions in politically charged environments, using compelling narratives to highlight human rights issues. She also reflects on weaving tradition and innovation while curating an anniversary issue, emphasizing the deep connections in creative work.

We've got some exciting news regarding the future of The Critic and Her Publics—and here to bring it to you is the latest episode of Literary Hub's The Lit Hub Podcast. If you don't know The Lit Hub Podcast, it's the in-house show at Lit Hub, hosted by podcasts editor Drew Broussard. This week features Merve Emre talking about what's next for TCAHP as well as Lit Hub's editor-in-chief Jonny Diamond on why supporting independent media is important and a raucous round-table of Lit Hub staff talking about awards season.Be sure to subscribe to The Lit Hub Podcast for more bookish fun—and to stay tuned for the return of The Critic and Her Publics in January 2025!

Christine Smallwood, an accomplished author and core faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, shares her compelling journey from academia to fiction writing. She reflects on the challenges of transitioning from a PhD to creative writing, discussing the impact of personal experience on her work. The conversation dives into the joys of engaging with George Eliot’s 'Middlemarch,' emphasizing narrative development and personal connection. Smallwood also tackles the intricacies of literary critique, advocating for more interactive, conversational approaches to literature.