Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute</a>.</p> <p>Pollitt has been contributing to <em>The Nation</em> since 1980. Her 1992 essay on the culture wars, "Why We Read: Canon to the Right of Me..." won the National Magazine Award for essays and criticism, and she won a Whiting Foundation Writing Award the same year. In 1993 her essay "Why Do We Romanticize the Fetus?" won the Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.</p> <p>Many of Pollitt's contributions to <em>The Nation</em> are compiled in three books: <em>Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism</em> (Knopf); <em>Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture</em> (Modern Library); and <em>Virginity or Death! And Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time</em> (Random House). In 2007 Random House published her collection of personal essays, <em>Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories</em>. Two pieces from this book, "Learning to Drive" and its followup, "Webstalker," originally appeared in <em>The New Yorker</em>. "Learning to Drive" is anthologized in Best American Essays 2003.</p> <p>Pollitt has also written essays and book reviews for <em>The New Yorker</em>, <em>The Atlantic</em>, <em>The New Republic</em>, <em>Harper's</em>, <em>Ms.</em>, <em>Glamour</em>, <em>Mother Jones</em>, the <em>New York Times</em>, and the <em>London Review of Books</em>. She has appeared on NPR's <em>Fresh Air</em> and <em>All Things Considered</em>, <em>Charlie Rose</em>, <em>The McLaughlin Group</em>, CNN, <em>Dateline NBC</em> and the BBC. Her work has been republished in many anthologies and is taught in many university classes.</p> <p>For her poetry, Pollitt has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her 1982 book <em>Antarctic Traveller</em> won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her poems have been published in many magazines and are reprinted in many anthologies, most recently <em>The Oxford Book of American Poetry</em> (2006).  Her second collection, <em>The Mind-Body Problem</em>, came out from Random House in 2009.</p> <p>Born in New York City, she was educated at Harvard and the Columbia School of the Arts. She has lectured at dozens of colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brooklyn College, UCLA, the University of Mississippi and Cornell. She has taught poetry at Princeton, Barnard and the 92nd Street Y, and women's studies at the New School University.</p>" />

Katha Pollitt

Columnist

@kathapollitt

Katha Pollitt is a columnist for The Nation.

A photo of three women in a crowd at a protest of Harvey Weinstein, one holding a sign reading

It Shouldn’t Matter How You Got Too Drunk to Consent It Shouldn’t Matter How You Got Too Drunk to Consent

The message in New York State law is clear: If you get drunk or high or wasted, whatever happens is your fault. We have a chance to change that.

May 31, 2024 / Katha Pollitt

pregnancy ultrasound

Abortion Bans Are “an Assault on the Practice of Medicine” Abortion Bans Are “an Assault on the Practice of Medicine”

Restrictive laws don’t just take away the right to choose, say physicians and ob-gyns, but also prevent proper treatment of pregnancies.

May 7, 2024 / Column / Katha Pollitt

Macron with kids

Why Do Men in Government Keep Telling Women to Have Kids? Why Do Men in Government Keep Telling Women to Have Kids?

Heads of state around the world want to prevent population decline. But they’re leaving all the responsibility to mothers.

Feb 20, 2024 / Column / Katha Pollitt

Hamas flag

Why Have Feminists Been So Slow to Condemn the Hamas Rapes? Why Have Feminists Been So Slow to Condemn the Hamas Rapes?

Israel's war in Gaza is an atrocity. But we can deplore its actions while also condemning the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.

Dec 15, 2023 / Katha Pollitt

Planet Earth

In Turbulent Times, Look for the Helpers In Turbulent Times, Look for the Helpers

It’s been a rough year. If you can lend a hand, these causes need—and deserve—your assistance.

Dec 7, 2023 / Column / Katha Pollitt

Representative Mike Johnson leaves a House Republican conference meeting in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill on October 24, 2023, in Washington, D.C.

Mike Johnson’s “18th-Century Values” Mike Johnson’s “18th-Century Values”

The new speaker of the House says he's a history buff. But has he learned from it, or is he condemned to repeat it?

Nov 30, 2023 / Column / Katha Pollitt

Linda Hirshman

Linda Hirshman Was a Different Kind of Feminist Linda Hirshman Was a Different Kind of Feminist

In some ways, the lawyer and historian was a product of her time—but in more ways than most, she was ahead of it.

Nov 13, 2023 / Katha Pollitt

Affirmative Action for Men?

Affirmative Action for Men? Affirmative Action for Men?

College admissions policies claiming to maintain a gender balance are giving male applicants yet another advantage.

Oct 14, 2023 / Column / Katha Pollitt

The Women of America’s Heartland

The Women of America’s Heartland The Women of America’s Heartland

Monica Potts’s book The Forgotten Girls is a document of the effects of poverty, sexism, and, of course, the rapacious capitalism that has abandoned communities across America.

Aug 31, 2023 / Column / Katha Pollitt

Margot Robbie posing on the pink carpet.

The Double Bind of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” The Double Bind of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”

The message of Barbie is that girls can be anything, but you still have to be gorgeous while you’re doing it.

Jul 28, 2023 / Katha Pollitt

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