LANGSTON HUGHES (1902–1967) was an American poet and novelist, and a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published his first short story in The New Yorker in 1934. His books include Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), Not Without Laughter (1930), and Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951).
SHIRLEY JACKSON (1916–1965) contributed her first story to The New Yorker in 1944. She wrote six novels, including The Haunting of Hill House (1959), which was nominated for the National Book Award, as well as four short-story collections, two memoirs, and four children’s books.
RANDALL JARRELL (1914–1965) was a poet and novelist who served as the United States poet laureate from 1956 to 1958. His books include Pictures from an Institution (1954) and The Woman at the Washington Zoo (1960), which won a National Book Award.
E. J. KAHN, JR. (1916–1994), became a staff writer at The New Yorker in 1937 and remained at the magazine for five decades. He wrote twenty-seven books, including The Separated People (1968), The American People (1974), and About The New Yorker and Me (1979).
WELDON KEES (1914–1955) was a poet, novelist, and painter whose books include The Last Man (1943) and The Fall of the Magicians (1947).
DAVID LARDNER (1919–1944) wrote about theatre, film, and sports for The New Yorker. He was killed in Germany during the Second World War while reporting for the magazine.
JOHN LARDNER (1912–1960), the brother of David Lardner, wrote a television-and-radio column, The Air, for the magazine for many years.
JILL LEPORE, a staff writer and a professor of history at Harvard, has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2005. Her books include The Name of War, which won the Bancroft Prize in 1999, New York Burning (2005), and Book of Ages (2013).
A. J. LIEBLING (1904–1963) joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1935. During the Second World War he was a correspondent in Europe and Africa. After the war he wrote the magazine’s Wayward Press column for many years. His books include The Sweet Science (1956), The Earl of Louisiana (1961), and Between Meals (1962).
LOIS LONG (1901–1974) joined The New Yorker in 1925. She wrote the Feminine Fashions column from 1927 until 1968.
ARCHIBALD MACLEISH (1892–1982) was a poet, playwright, and essayist and the Librarian of Congress between 1939 and 1944. His Collected Poems: 1917–1952 won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award in 1953.
LOUIS MACNEICE (1907–1963) was a poet, playwright, and essayist whose books include The Last Ditch (1940), Holes in the Sky (1948), and The Burning Perch (1963).
WILLIAM MAXWELL (1908–2000) was a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and children’s author who served as the fiction editor for The New Yorker from 1936 to 1975. His books include So Long, See You Tomorrow, which won a National Book Award in 1982, and All the Days and Nights: The Collected Stories (1995).
JOHN MCCARTEN (1911–1974) joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1934 and began reviewing films for the magazine in 1945.
CARSON MCCULLERS (1917–1967) was a novelist and short-story writer. Her books include The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) and The Member of the Wedding (1946).
ST. CLAIR MCKELWAY (1905–1980) joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1933. He was the magazine’s managing editor between 1936 and 1939, and he contributed numerous pieces throughout his long career. His books include True Tales from the Annals of Crime & Rascality (1950) and a posthumous collection, Reporting at Wit’s End (2010).
LOUIS MENAND, a professor of English at Harvard, has contributed to The New Yorker since 1991, and has been a staff writer since 2001. His books include The Metaphysical Club (2001), which won a Pulitzer Prize and a Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians, American Studies (2002), and The Marketplace of Ideas (2010).
JOSEPH MITCHELL (1908–1996) began writing for the magazine in 1933. His books include McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (1943), Joe Gould’s Secret (1965), and Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories (1992).
JOHN MOSHER (1892–1942) wrote for The New Yorker from 1926 to 1942.
LEWIS MUMFORD (1895–1990), a philosopher, literary critic, historian, and city planner, wrote the magazine’s architecture column, The Sky Line, from 1931 to 1963. He wrote numerous books, including The City in History (1961), which won a National Book Award.
VLADIMIR NABOKOV (1899–1977) was a Russian-born writer who immigrated to the United States in 1940. He began contributing to The New Yorker in 1942, and his fiction, poetry, and memoirs appeared in the magazine throughout the rest of his life. His novels include Lolita (1955), Pnin (1957), and Pale Fire (1962).
OGDEN NASH (1902–1971) was a poet renowned for his light verse. He began contributing to The New Yorker in 1930, and he spent three months working on the magazine’s editorial staff the following year. His books include I’m a Stranger Here Myself (1938), Good Intentions (1942), and Bed Riddance (1969).
HOWARD NEMEROV (1920–1991) was the United States poet laureate from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1988 to 1990. “The Triumph of Education,” reprinted here, was his first contribution to The New Yorker. His Collected Poems (1977) won a National Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and a Bollingen Prize.
FRANK O’CONNOR (1903–1966) was an Irish writer best known for his short stories. He began contributing to The New Yorker in 1945. His books include Guests of the Nation (1931), Traveller’s Samples (1951), and Domestic Relations (1957).
JOHN O’HARA (1905–1970) was a novelist and short-story writer. He first contributed to The New Yorker in 1928, and he went on to publish more than two hundred short stories in the magazine, more than any other writer. His novels include Appointment in Samarra (1934), BUtterfield 8 (1935), and Ten North Frederick (1955), which won a National Book Award.
SUSAN ORLEAN began contributing articles and Talk of the Town pieces to The New Yorker in 1987 and became a staff writer in 1992. She is the author of The Orchid Thief (1998), The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup (2001), and Rin Tin Tin (2011).
GEORGE ORWELL (1903–1950) was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, a novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His books include Homage to Catalonia (1938), Animal Farm (1945), and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
GEORGE PACKER became a staff writer for The New Yorker in 2003 and covered the Iraq War for the magazine. His books include The Assassins’ Gate, which was named one of the ten best books of 2005 by The New York Times and won the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism and an Overseas Press Club’s book award, and The Unwinding, which won a 2013 National Book Award.
MOLLIE PANTER-DOWNES (1906–1997) became a bestselling author at the age of sixteen, with her début novel, The Shoreless Sea (1923). Her other novels include The Chase (1925), My Husband Simon (1931), and One Fine Day (1947). She wrote the magazine’s Letter from London column for five decades, starting in 1939.
V. S. PRITCHETT (1900–1997) was a writer best known for his short stories, and a book critic for The New Yorker for many years. “The Ladder,” reprinted here, was his first story for the magazine. His books include The Complete Short Stories (1990) and Complete Collected Essays (1991).
DAVID REMNICK has been the editor of The New Yorker since 1998. He became a staff writer in 1992 and has written more than a hundred pieces for the magazine. He is the author of Lenin’s Tomb (1993), for which he received a Pulitzer Prize, The Devil Problem (1996), Resurrection (1997), King of the World (1998), Reporting (2006), and The Bridge (2010).
THEODORE ROETHKE (1908–1963) was a poet whose books include Words for the Wind (1957) and The Far Field (1964), both of which won a National Book Award. He began contributing to The New Yorker in 1937.
ALEX ROSS has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1993 and became the magazine’s music critic in 1996. He is the author of The Rest Is Noise (2007), which won a National Book Critics Circle Award and a Guardian First Book Award, and Listen to This (2010).
HAROLD ROSS (1892–1951) founded The New Yorker in 1925 and served as its editor from the first issue until his death.
LILLIAN ROSS became a staff writer at The New Yorker in 1945. She is the author of several books, including Picture (1952), Portrait of Hemingway (1961), and Here but Not Here (1998).
RICHARD ROVERE (1915–1979) joined The New Yorker in 1944 and wrote the magazine’s Letter from Washington column from 1948 until his death. His books include The American Establishment and Other Reports, Opinions, and Speculations (1962) and Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (1968).
WINTHROP SARGEANT (1903–1986) was a writer, critic, and violinist. In 1930, after stints playing with the New York Symphony and the New York Philharmonic, he abandoned his musical career to become a writer. From 1949 to 1972 he wrote the Musical Events column for The New Yorker, and he continued to contribute to the magazine until his death.
PETER SCHJELDAHL joined The New Yorker in 1998 as the magazine’s art critic. He is the author of four books, including The Hydrogen Jukebox (1991) and Let’s See (2008).
IRWIN SHAW (1913–1984) was a playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story writer whose books include The Young Lions (1948), Rich Man, Poor Man (1970), and God Was Here, but He Left Early (1973).
ROBERT A. SIMON (1897–1981) was a writer and translator. He was The New Yorker’s music critic from its first issue in 1925 until 1948. His books include Our Little Girl (1923) and Sweet & Low (1926).
ZADIE SMITH is the author of four novels, White Teeth (2000), The Autograph Man (2002), On Beauty (2005), and NW (2012), and a collection of essays, Changing My Mind (2009).
STEPHEN SPENDER (1909–1995) was a poet, novelist, and essayist. His books include The Still Centre (1939), Ruins and Visions (1942), and The Edge of Being (1949).
ELIZABETH TAYLOR (1912–1975) was a novelist and short-story writer. Her books include A Game of Hide and Seek (1951) and The Real Life of Angel Deverell (1957).
JUDITH THURMAN began contributing to The New Yorker in 1987, and became a staff writer in 2000. She is the author of Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller (1982), which won a National Book Award; Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette (1999), which won a Los Angeles Times Book Award; and Cleopatra’s Nose (2007), a collection of her pieces from the magazine.
LIONEL TRILLING (1905–1975) was a professor of English at Columbia whose books include The Liberal Imagination (1950), The Opposing Self (1955), and Beyond Culture (1965).
NICCOLÒ TUCCI (1908–1999) was an Italian-born novelist and short-story writer who immigrated to the United States in 1938. “The Evolution of Knowledge,” reprinted here, was his first contribution to The New Yorker.
MARK VAN DOREN (1894–1972) was a poet, critic, and scholar. His Collected Poems: 1922–1938 won a Pulitzer Prize.
JESSAMYN WEST (1902–1984) was a novelist and short-story writer. Her books include The Friendly Persuasion (1945), Love Is Not What You Think (1959), and Except for Me and Thee (1969).
REBECCA WEST (1892–1983) was an English journalist, literary critic, and travel writer. Her books include Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), The Meaning of Treason (1949), and A Train of Powder (1955), based on her articles about the Nuremberg trials, originally published in The New Yorker.
E. B. WHITE (1899–1985) joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927. He contributed humor pieces, poems, short stories, newsbreak captions, and even one cover illustration, but he was most associated with the Notes and Comment essays, which he wrote for thirty years. His books include the children’s classics Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte’s Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970). He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and an honorary Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for his work as a whole.
RICHARD WILBUR is a poet and translator. He was the United States poet laureate from 1987 to 1988. His books include Things of This World (1956), which won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and New and Collected Poems (1988), which also won a Pulitzer Prize.
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (1883–1963) was a poet and doctor. His books include Spring and All (1923), The Desert Music and Other Poems (1954), Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems (1962), which won a Pulitzer Prize, and Paterson (1963).
EDMUND WILSON (1895–1972) was a critic, novelist, and poet. He became The New Yorker’s book critic in 1944, a position he held for many years. His numerous books include Axel’s Castle (1931), To the Finland Station (1940), and The Shores of Light (1952).
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The 40s: The Story of a Decade Page 83
