Katharine S. White — Shaping The New Yorker, with Amy Reading

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One hundred years ago this week, The New Yorker published its first issue. A few months later, the magazine’s first (and for decades, only) female editor joined the staff. Katharine S. White spent the better part of the next 50 years wielding her pen and her editorial influence there, carefully tending to an ever-growing stable of talented (sometimes high-maintenance) writers and shaping the magazine into a cultural powerhouse. Biographer Amy Reading joins us to discuss White’s life, legacy and undeniable importance in the history of 20th-century American letters.
Mentioned in this episode:
The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker (openbookbsb.substack.com) by Amy Reading
Katharine S. White (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Sergeant_Angel…)
Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Shepley_Sergeant)
E.B. White (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._B._White)
Katharine and E.B. White’s farm (townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/g104…) in Blue Hill, Maine
St. Nicholas (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_(magazine)) magazine
American Heritage article (americanheritage.com/magazine-taught-faulkner-…) on St. Nicholas magazine
Women authors discovered/edited by Katharine White (patreon.com/posts/katharine-whites-121803116?u…)
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 187 (lostladiesoflit.com/podcast/187-kay-boyle-fift…) on Kay Boyle
Lost Ladies of LitEpisode No. 184 (lostladiesoflit.com/podcast/184-whose-line-is-…) on Elizabeth Taylor
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 158 (lostladiesoflit.com/transcripts/160-sylvia-tow…) on Sylvia Townsend Warner
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 168 (lostladiesoflit.com/podcast/168-mary-mccarthys…) on Mary McCarthy
Lost Ladies of LitEpisode No. 131 (lostladiesoflit.com/podcast/231-dorothy-parker…) on Dorothy Parker
Henry Seidel Canby (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Seidel_Canby)
Fillmore Hyde (nytimes.com/1970/01/27/archives/fillmore-hyde-…)
Harold Ross (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ross)
The Mark Inside: A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con (penguinrandomhouse.com/books/139581/the-mark-i…) by Amy Reading
About Town: The New Yorker and the World it Made (dacapopress.com/titles/ben-yagoda/about-town/9…) by Ben Yagoda
Amy Reading’s “Open Book” Substack (openbookbsb.substack.com)
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