Katha Pollitt

Columnist

Katha Pollitt is well known for her wit and her keen sense of both the ridiculous and the sublime. Her "Subject to Debate" column, which The Washington Post called "the best place to go for original thinking on the left," appears every other week in The Nation; it is frequently reprinted in newspapers across the country. In 2003, "Subject to Debate" won the National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary.

Pollitt has been contributing to The Nation 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 the 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.

Many of Pollitt's contributions to The Nation are compiled in three books: Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism (Knopf); Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture (Modern Library); and Virginity or Death! And Other Social and Political Issues of Our Time (Random House). In September, Random House will publish her collection of personal essays, Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories. Two pieces from this book, "Learning to Drive" and its followup, "Webstalker," originally appeared in The New Yorker. "Learning to Drive" is anthologized in Best American Essays 2003.

Pollitt has also written essays and book reviews for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Harper's, Ms., Glamour, Mother Jones, The New York Times, and the London Review of Books. She has appeared on NPR's Fresh Air and All Things Considered, Charlie Rose, The McLaughlin Group, CNN, Dateline NBC and the BBC. Her work has been republished in many anthologies and is taught in many university classes.

For her poetry, Pollitt has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her 1982 book Antarctic Traveller won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her poems have been published in many magazines and are reprinted in many anthologies, most recently The Oxford Book of American Poetry (2006).

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 and the 92nd Street Y, and women's studies at the New School University.

Visit www.kathapollitt.com for upcoming appearances, interviews and more.

Currently

  • Barack Obama, Feminist in Chief?

    December 3, 2008

    Obama should make gender equality a keystone of his presidency--and the economic stimulus is a great place to start.

  • The People's Choice

    November 19, 2008

    Finally, a prochoice president. Here are five ways to solidify his position.

  • Sayonara, Sarah

    November 6, 2008

    God's gift to journalism--and to feminism.

  • Culture War: Out of Juice?

    October 22, 2008

    The culture wars may fail at the top of the ticket this year, but expect right-wing mayhem further down the ballot.

  • Follow-ups for Sarah Palin

    October 8, 2008

    Don't let reproductive rights get lost in the run-up to Election Day.

  • Sarah Palin, Affirmative Action Babe

    September 24, 2008

    Affirmative action for potential leaders of the world's most powerful country: that's what the GOP stands for now.

  • Lipstick on a Wing Nut

    September 10, 2008

    Ten tough questions for Sarah Palin. Really tough.

  • Hillary Does the Right Thing

    August 28, 2008

    Will the Hillary diehards follow her lead and support Barack Obama?

  • Flocking to Faith

    July 30, 2008

    Obama's incredible faith-based initiative.

  • Who's Afraid of Judy Maccabee?

    July 1, 2008

    Women increasingly are taking leadership roles in Jewish life--and that's a problem?

  • Feminists for McCain? Not So Much

    June 19, 2008

    NARAL and Planned Parenthood give him a big fat zero. What else do you need to know?

  • Iron My Skirt

    June 5, 2008

    Once the bitterness of the present moment has faded, people will recognize they owe Hillary Clinton a standing ovation, even if they can't stand her.

  • Déjà Vu in South Dakota

    May 22, 2008

    It's going to take a concerted national effort to defeat the state's latest anti-choice ballot initiative.

  • Backlash Spectacular

    May 8, 2008

    From campus to courtroom, longstanding gains for women are being eroded everywhere you look.

  • Men of the Cloth

    April 24, 2008

    When it comes to keeping women pregnant and in their place, polygamous Mormons and the Pope have a lot in common.

  • Sweatin' to the Koran

    April 9, 2008

    What do burqas, Osama and fascism have to do with six hours of man-free exercise time at Harvard?

  • Blowing Smoke

    April 3, 2008

    In Nicholson Baker's cut-and-paste history, the "good war" is bad.

  • John Q. Public

    March 13, 2008

    Just once it would be nice to see a male politician caught in a sex scandal stand up there at a press conference all by himself.

  • Ralph Rides Again

    February 28, 2008

    What the *&#@! is wrong with this guy?

  • Ms.understanding

    January 31, 2008

    The magazine walks into a trap labeled "political correctness," "left-wing anti-Semitism" and "multiculturalist Islam love."

  • Letters

    January 30, 2008 Subscribe

  • The Weepy Witch & the Secret Muslim

    January 17, 2008

    If the campaign becomes a competition between race and gender, the winner will be whichever white man the GOP nominates.

  • Maternity Fashions, Junior Size

    January 3, 2008

    Teens getting pregnant: bad. Teens having babies: good. If this makes no sense, wake up and smell the Enfamil: it's 2008!

2007

  • Ho-Ho-Holiday Donations, 2007 Edition

    December 13, 2007

    Multiply your good fortune by giving generously to these progressive organizations and charities.

  • The Atheist's Dilemma

    November 15, 2007

    Atheists versus imams? Can't we have more choices?

  • David Horowitz, Feminist?

    November 1, 2007

    The oppression of Muslim women is a major theme among the Islamofascistly aware. If only they felt the same about other women on earth.

  • With Facts on Our Side

    October 18, 2007

    Faced with a choice between facts and theology, antichoicers choose the latter every time.

  • How Different Are the Top Three Dems?

    October 4, 2007

    Clinton, Edwards, Obama: behind the branding, they're more similar than you think.

  • Poverty Is Hazardous to Your Health

    September 20, 2007

    With the exception of John Edwards's plan to eradicate poverty, the concerns of the poor seem to have fallen off the progressive agenda for 2008.

  • Onward, Secular Soldiers

    September 6, 2007

    Memo to candidates: There are more atheists, agnostics and skeptics out there than you think. How about sending us some love?

  • Who's Sorry Now?

    August 9, 2007

    Michael Ignatieff apologizes for being wrong on Iraq. If only mainstream media acknowledged all the people who were right.

  • Pardon Whom?

    July 12, 2007

    Dear George Bush: Don't stop with Scooter Libby. Why not go all the way and pardon everyone unfairly held behind bars?

  • Anything Boys Can Do...

    June 21, 2007

    The Dangerous Book for Boys does no boy a favor by resuscitating the Anglo-imperial manly ideals. And what about girls?

  • Letters

    June 13, 2007 Subscribe

  • Tough Luck, Ladies

    June 7, 2007

    The Roberts Court rules that six months into being screwed by your boss, pay discrimination is your own damn fault.

  • 'Feckless'? No Way!

    May 24, 2007

    Who says American feminists have ignored the plight of Muslim women?

  • 'Democracy' Is Hell

    May 10, 2007

    In a gruesome marriage of technology and medieval barbarity, an Internet video records the stoning death of a 17-year-old Kurdish girl. Welcome to the new Iraq.

  • Regrets Only

    April 26, 2007

    The Supreme Court's recent antichoice decision shows how deeply disinformation has seeped into the abortion debate.

  • Europeans Do It Better

    March 15, 2007

    In an overpopulated and warming world, isn't it weird that governments are encouraging large families?

  • Ayatollah D'Souza

    January 19, 2007

    Dinesh D'Souza revs up the Republican base with a book arguing that lifestyles of the decadent left triggered Muslim anger that led to 9/11.

  • Happy New Year!

    January 4, 2007

    Resolutions for liberals.

2006

  • Ho-Ho-Holiday Donations--2006

    December 14, 2006

    Give a gift that will make the world better.

  • Double, Double Toil and Trouble

    December 4, 2006

    "Is it just my imagination, or are women wreaking more evil than usual these days?"

  • Why They Lost

    November 21, 2006

    It's always a bad idea to rely on your opponents to be knaves and fools. It worked for the Democrats this time. But what about next time?

  • HRC: Can't Get No Respect

    November 6, 2006

    If people keep making sexist attacks against Hillary Clinton, I may just have to vote for her. That means you, Elizabeth Edwards!

  • Show Him the Money

    October 20, 2006

    Diversity can be cringe-making, arbitrary, insincere and sappy. But take it away and you won't get more equality--you'll only get more privilege.

  • Foley's IMbroglio

    October 5, 2006

    It shows how hapless and shallow Democrats are that they show so little electoral joy in a principled challenge to GOP rule. Instead we get tactical theatrics about whatever comes down the pike: gas prices or Foley.

  • Single-Issue Solipsism

    September 21, 2006

    NARAL ProChoice America wants its sisters in Connecticut to support Joe Lieberman. Are they out of their minds?

  • Islamo-Fascism--Take Two

    September 7, 2006

    If we really want to understand the Muslim world, we should start by acknowledging that today's "fascists" were yesterday's freedom fighters.

  • Wrong War, Wrong Word

    August 24, 2006

    "Islamo-fascism" looks like an analytic term, but it's really an emotional one, intended to get us to think less and fear more.

  • No Presents, Please

    July 27, 2006

    The only thing more absurd than the wedding gift the British government just gave Katha Pollitt is the fact that our government denies gays such benefits.

  • Mommy Wars, Round 587

    June 28, 2006

    Antifeminists engage in moral discourse while feminists tend to speak in the language of personal choice. But what happens when choice is a bad idea--for yourself, other women or society?

  • Prairie Grass Roots

    June 14, 2006

    In South Dakota, prochoicers are fighting back with a bipartisan initiative challenging the abortion ban and a grassroots effort that has put progressive Native American women on the ballot.

  • Betty Friedan, 1921-2006

    February 9, 2006

    Betty Friedan lived a big life and wrote a big book that helped change our world, in every way, for the better.

  • Prochoice Puritans

    January 26, 2006

    As prochoicers seek to reframe their arguments, injecting more moralism into the antiabortion debate will not keep abortion legal and accessible.

  • Girls Against Boys?

    January 12, 2006

    Women now outnumber men at colleges and universities, but higher education has not become the fluffy pink playpen of feminism that some conservatives envision.

2005

  • It Wasn't All Bad

    December 20, 2005

    Bush is on the defensive. The GOP is mired in corruption. The media are waking up. Civil liberties are beginning to matter. See? Good things did happen in 2005.

  • Ho-Ho-Holiday Donations, Early Edition

    November 22, 2005

    Tsunami. Hurricane. Earthquake. War. Poverty. Injustice. It's been a tough year, but here's a list of extraordinary groups who deserve a place on your holiday gift list.

  • The World According to Dowd

    November 10, 2005

    Maureen Dowd has done her best to declare feminism dead. But by insisting that men are scared of spunky successful women, it doesn't occur to her that she is promoting, rather than reporting on, the problem she describes.

  • Madam President, Madam President

    October 26, 2005

    As the backlash against women gets daily more open and absurd, our real-life female politicians seem paralyzed. It's up to television now: Run, Geena, run!

  • If Not Miers, Who?

    October 13, 2005

    Dear Karl Rove: Just in case Harriet Miers doesn't work out, why not nominate me?

  • Desperate Housewives of the Ivy League?

    September 29, 2005

    Why does the New York Times feel compelled to perpetuate the myth that smart, striving women are increasingly opting out of a career to be stay-at-home moms?

  • Letters

    September 21, 2005 Subscribe

  • Intelligible Design

    September 15, 2005

    Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true.

  • Grassroots Charities Need Your Help

    September 7, 2005

    Progressive, grassroots charities on the Gulf Coast are poised to help hurricane victims. Here's a list of groups that need your donations.

  • Theocracy Lite

    September 1, 2005

    How can women be equal before Islamic law, according to which they are unequal?

  • Feminists for (Fetal) Life

    August 11, 2005

    Feminists for Life fails to acknowledge women as moral agents. And in that sense, they aren't feminists at all.

  • Should Roe Go?

    July 14, 2005

    Should pro-choicers just give up and let Roe go?

  • Letters

    June 28, 2005 Subscribe

  • If the Frame Fits...

    June 23, 2005

    Reframing abortion takes the issue out of its real-life context, which is the experience of women.

  • Brooklyn Prof in Godless Shocker

    June 9, 2005

    People who believe in academic freedom should denounce CUNY's treatment of an atheist professor.

  • Stiffed

    May 26, 2005

    Thanks to the wonders of reproductive science, you too can have a virgin birth.

  • Virginity or Death!

    May 12, 2005

    Is the threat of cervical cancer at age 60 really keeping teenage girls virgins?

  • Practice What You Preach

    April 28, 2005

    Forget common ground--it's time to divide up the country.

  • Andrea Dworkin, 1946-2005

    April 14, 2005

    I never thought I would miss unfair, infuriating, over-the-top Andrea Dworkin.

  • Backward Christian Soldiers

    March 31, 2005

  • Invisible Women

    March 16, 2005

  • The Cheese Stands Alone

    March 3, 2005

  • Letters

    February 17, 2005 Subscribe

  • Summers of Our Discontent

    February 3, 2005

    As the saying goes, behind every successful woman is a man who is surprised. Harvard president Larry Summers apparently is that man.

  • Jesus to the Rescue?

    January 20, 2005

  • Bittersweet Bomblets

    January 6, 2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Podcast

RadioNation with Laura Flanders, 12/1/08
This week: Imagining a new new deal, with Howard Zinn, Frances Moore Lappe, Andrea Batista Schlesinger, Eric Schlosser and...FDR himself. Plus: Ennis Carter and Stephen Duncombe on the political propaganda legacy of the WPA. (13mb mp3)

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