Rebecca Mead
Rebecca Mead joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 1997. She has profiled many subjects, among them Lin-Manuel Miranda, Margaret Atwood, Ivo van Hove, Joanna Hogg, and Mary Beard. She is the author of several books, including “My Life in Middlemarch,” a New York Times best-seller, and “Home/Land: A Memoir of Departure and Return.” She has served as a McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton University and was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, in 2020. She lives in London and is a frequent contributor to the Letter from the U.K. column on newyorker.com.
The Forgotten History of Sex in America
Today’s battles over issues like gender nonconformity and reproductive rights have antecedents that have been lost or suppressed. What can we learn from them?
Gillian Anderson’s Sex Education
She became famous playing buttoned-up Agent Scully. But in midlife her characters often have a strong erotic charge—and now she’s edited “Want,” a book of sexual fantasies.
An Artist Flowering in Her Nineties
Isabella Ducrot, a painter in Rome, didn’t really pick up a brush until her fifties. Four decades later, galleries and museums throughout Europe are celebrating her work.
Fitzcarraldo Editions Makes Challenging Literature Chic
In ten years, the London publishing house has amassed devoted readers—and four writers with Nobel Prizes.
The Man Who Reinvented the Cat
The curious career of the illustrator Louis Wain tells the story of how our feline friends came in from the alley and took up their place at the hearth.
Chatsworth, Revisited
“Picturing Childhood” highlights the private, familial side of a storied estate.
The British Museum’s Blockbuster Scandals
While facing renewed accusations of cultural theft, the institution announced that it had been the victim of actual theft—from someone on the inside.
Hearing the Voices of Grenfell Tower
The survivors of the deadly 2017 London fire speak in a theatre piece opening at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
The Truth Behind the Slouching Epidemic
From the onset of the twentieth century, poor posture has been associated with poverty, bad health, and even civilizational decadence. But does the real problem lie elsewhere?
The Salacious Glossiness of Netflix’s Prince Andrew Drama, “Scoop”
Rufus Sewell and Gillian Anderson star in a re-creation of an infamous BBC interview that feels like a hallucinated episode of “The Crown.”
Lucy Prebble’s Dramas of High Anxiety
In plays such as “The Effect” and TV shows such as “I Hate Suzie” and “Succession,” the writer has become an expert at getting deep inside worried characters’ heads.
A Gen Z Comedian Strafes His Elders—and Himself
Leo Reich, the star of a new HBO standup special, offers wicked indictments alongside “a brutal character assassination of myself.”
Isabelle Huppert Lives from Scene to Scene
Throughout her career, the celebrated French actor has worked with auteurs ranging from Jean-Luc Godard to Hong Sangsoo—and maintained a matter-of-fact approach to her craft.
How Sandra Hüller Approached Playing a Nazi
The German actress probes characters with unusual depth. But to portray a Fascist wife, in “The Zone of Interest,” she reversed her usual approach—and withheld her empathy.
“The Crown” Presents the Last Days of Princess Diana
The people’s princess remains irresistible in both fiction and memory.
Why We Need to Talk About Marriage
It’s an institution that informs the tax code and the disposition of wealth—while also shaping the idiosyncratic goings on within households. What could it be, at its best?
“Beckham” Shows Us How David and Victoria Beckham See Themselves
A new four-part documentary on Netflix offers viewers a fascinating if flatteringly partial look inside a British celebrity match made in heaven.
The Bloomsbury Group Is Back in Vogue
The bohemian English circle that included Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Bell revolted against Victorian formality—and their casually ornamental style is inspiring designers today.
Ridding the National Portrait Gallery of Its Gentlemen’s-Club Vibe
Among the changes that the director, Nicholas Cullinan, has overseen: a higher ratio of females on the walls, Zadie Smith in pastel, and non-polyester staff uniforms.
A Private Garden as an Antidote to Isolation
The photographer Siân Davey said, of her family’s plot in the South of England, “It felt like the potential for the whole world was held in that garden.”
The Forgotten History of Sex in America
Today’s battles over issues like gender nonconformity and reproductive rights have antecedents that have been lost or suppressed. What can we learn from them?
Gillian Anderson’s Sex Education
She became famous playing buttoned-up Agent Scully. But in midlife her characters often have a strong erotic charge—and now she’s edited “Want,” a book of sexual fantasies.
An Artist Flowering in Her Nineties
Isabella Ducrot, a painter in Rome, didn’t really pick up a brush until her fifties. Four decades later, galleries and museums throughout Europe are celebrating her work.
Fitzcarraldo Editions Makes Challenging Literature Chic
In ten years, the London publishing house has amassed devoted readers—and four writers with Nobel Prizes.
The Man Who Reinvented the Cat
The curious career of the illustrator Louis Wain tells the story of how our feline friends came in from the alley and took up their place at the hearth.
Chatsworth, Revisited
“Picturing Childhood” highlights the private, familial side of a storied estate.
The British Museum’s Blockbuster Scandals
While facing renewed accusations of cultural theft, the institution announced that it had been the victim of actual theft—from someone on the inside.
Hearing the Voices of Grenfell Tower
The survivors of the deadly 2017 London fire speak in a theatre piece opening at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
The Truth Behind the Slouching Epidemic
From the onset of the twentieth century, poor posture has been associated with poverty, bad health, and even civilizational decadence. But does the real problem lie elsewhere?
The Salacious Glossiness of Netflix’s Prince Andrew Drama, “Scoop”
Rufus Sewell and Gillian Anderson star in a re-creation of an infamous BBC interview that feels like a hallucinated episode of “The Crown.”
Lucy Prebble’s Dramas of High Anxiety
In plays such as “The Effect” and TV shows such as “I Hate Suzie” and “Succession,” the writer has become an expert at getting deep inside worried characters’ heads.
A Gen Z Comedian Strafes His Elders—and Himself
Leo Reich, the star of a new HBO standup special, offers wicked indictments alongside “a brutal character assassination of myself.”
Isabelle Huppert Lives from Scene to Scene
Throughout her career, the celebrated French actor has worked with auteurs ranging from Jean-Luc Godard to Hong Sangsoo—and maintained a matter-of-fact approach to her craft.
How Sandra Hüller Approached Playing a Nazi
The German actress probes characters with unusual depth. But to portray a Fascist wife, in “The Zone of Interest,” she reversed her usual approach—and withheld her empathy.
“The Crown” Presents the Last Days of Princess Diana
The people’s princess remains irresistible in both fiction and memory.
Why We Need to Talk About Marriage
It’s an institution that informs the tax code and the disposition of wealth—while also shaping the idiosyncratic goings on within households. What could it be, at its best?
“Beckham” Shows Us How David and Victoria Beckham See Themselves
A new four-part documentary on Netflix offers viewers a fascinating if flatteringly partial look inside a British celebrity match made in heaven.
The Bloomsbury Group Is Back in Vogue
The bohemian English circle that included Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Bell revolted against Victorian formality—and their casually ornamental style is inspiring designers today.
Ridding the National Portrait Gallery of Its Gentlemen’s-Club Vibe
Among the changes that the director, Nicholas Cullinan, has overseen: a higher ratio of females on the walls, Zadie Smith in pastel, and non-polyester staff uniforms.
A Private Garden as an Antidote to Isolation
The photographer Siân Davey said, of her family’s plot in the South of England, “It felt like the potential for the whole world was held in that garden.”