• by Ray Schultz , August 22, 2022

The New Yorker Editor David Remnick has announced several staff role changes. 

Managing Editor Leily Kleinbard has been named to the new post of executive managing editor. Kleinbard will oversee writer contracts and help lead the integration of print and Web operations.

Executive Editor Dorothy Wickenden left this summer. With her departure, Deputy Editor Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn will "shift her focus to some essential editorial responsibilities: top-editing features and mentoring editors,” Remnick announced.

Jessica Henderson will step into the managing editor slot. 

The magazine also has formalized Monica Racic’s job as digital director. Racic has spearheaded several initiatives, including The New Yorker’s digital issues.

In addition, Julia Rothchild, who has acted as the editorial staff's liaison with Conde Nast partners, will now guide audio expansion, be the main link to the business side, and help the team craft its editorial event series.

In a separate development, The New Yorker has reached into its archives to present a selection of historical celebrity profiles. The issue, dated Aug. 29, went on sale on Monday. 

The goal is to show how the celebrity profile, “once seen as the lowest form of journalism, can reach the heights of nonfiction prose,” a spokesperson said.  

The issue features classics including:

“Crackin’, Shakin’, Breakin’ Sounds” (Oct. 24, 1964), a profile of Bob Dylan by Net Hentoff, including an eyewitness account of a wine-soaked evening in which the 23 year-old Dylan recorded an entire album. 

“The Girl in the Black Helmet” (June 11, 1979), a profile of film star Louise Brooks at age 71, by Kenneth Tynan. Brooks was housebound and living in Rochester, New York, where Tynan found her. “You’re doing a terrible thing to me,” Brooks told him. “I’ve been killing myself off for twenty years, and you’re going to bring me back to life.”

“The New Negro” (Oct. 20 & 27, 1997), in which Hilton Als profiles Missy Elliott, a young hip-hop performer. “Six months ago, few people outside the music industry had heard of her; six months from now, it will be necessary to pretend that you’ve known about Missy Elliott for years,” Als wrote.