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Nathan Heller

@nathanheller

New Yorker staff writer, Vogue contributing editor, semi-pro eavesdropper, overcaffeinated earth child. Now writing THE PRIVATE ORDER for Penguin Press.

 California and New York
newyorker.com/contributors/nathan-heller
Joined July 2009
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Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)Photo by Nathan Heller (@nathanheller)
Nathan Heller retweeted
The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile picture
The New Yorker
@NewYorkerOct 24
In “The New Age of Reading,” the staff writer Nathan Heller says that news of the demise of reading is greatly exaggerated. He lays out his case to David Remnick. newyorker.com/podcast/the-ne…
Despite Reports, Reading Is Alive and Well

Despite Reports, Reading Is Alive and Well

In “The New Age of Reading,” the staff writer Nathan Heller says that news of the demise of reading is greatly exaggerated. He lays out his case to David Remnick.

newyorker.com
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Nathan Heller retweeted
The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile picture
The New Yorker
@NewYorkerOct 23
From the daily newsletter: James Daunt, the chief executive of Barnes & Noble and Britain’s Waterstones, presides over billions in sales. In the digital age, how does he keep making books irresistible? newyorker.com/newsletter/the…
Books Aren’t Going Anywhere

Books Aren’t Going Anywhere

From the daily newsletter: James Daunt, the chief executive of Barnes & Noble and Britain’s Waterstones, presides over billions in sales. In the digital age, how does he keep making books irresisti...

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Nathan Heller retweeted
Timothy Aryal (@timothyaryal) profile picture
Timothy Aryal@timothyaryalMar 31
Enjoyed reading this dispatch by @nathanheller from a Delhi roadside tea stall feeling the squeeze of war. “The locals are facing surging prices. But the rest is normal.”
The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile pictureThe New Yorker
@NewYorkerMar 31
Restrictions and attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have made fuel prices rocket. Just ask the roadside tea venders in New Delhi. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
Trump’s War Hits the Chaiwalas

Trump’s War Hits the Chaiwalas

Restrictions and attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have made fuel prices rocket. Just ask the roadside tea venders in New Delhi.

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Nathan Heller retweeted
The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile picture
The New Yorker
@NewYorkerFeb 3
When Gavin Newsom first entered public office, at the age of 28, there was a feeling that he would flourish without ascending to the top—too slick, too swank, too smug. Three decades later, the criticisms are the same, but his prospects have transformed. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/KV…
Gavin Newsom Is Playing the Long Game

Gavin Newsom Is Playing the Long Game

California’s governor has been touted as the Democrats’ best shot in 2028. But first he’ll need to convince voters that he’s not just a slick establishment politician.

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Nick Field (@nick_field90) profile picture
Nick Field@nick_field90Feb 1
"The Governor, who has not changed his cellphone number since becoming mayor of San Francisco, in 2004, has nine thousand twenty-two personal contacts on his phone" newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
Gavin Newsom Is Playing the Long Game

Gavin Newsom Is Playing the Long Game

California’s governor has been touted as the Democrats’ best shot in 2028. But first he’ll need to convince voters that he’s not just a slick establishment politician.

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Nathan Heller retweeted
The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile picture
The New Yorker
@NewYorker12 Apr 2025
.@nathanheller on Donald Trump’s favoritism grift: the more you give to some people while excoriating others, the more you can manage to take. nyer.cm/cuB0d1R
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The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile picture
The New Yorker
@NewYorker9 Apr 2025
Powerful institutions are bartering their strength away by playing for Trump’s favoritism, but now is not the time to make sacrifices to get ahead, @nathanheller writes. nyer.cm/zoMqr0Z
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This, from @nathanheller, is one of the best distillations of magazine writing that I have ever seen:
Image from Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis)
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GDess (@gdess) profile picture
GDess
@gdess30 Mar 2025
⁦sounds right. ⁦@nathanheller⁩ on Graydon Carter in yes, the New Yorker
Image from GDess (@gdess)
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Nathan Heller retweeted
Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) profile picture
Jack Shafer@jackshafer16 Mar 2025
"If the golden rule for a writer is to try to avoid situations where you find yourself writing something you wouldn’t read, a similar calculus probably applies to assigning and editing stories." --@nathanheller newyorker.com/magazine/2025/…
Graydon Carter’s Wild Ride Through a Golden Age of Magazines

Graydon Carter’s Wild Ride Through a Golden Age of Magazines

The former Vanity Fair editor recalls a time when the expense accounts were limitless, the photo shoots were lavish, and the stakes seemed high. What else has been lost?

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Replying to @Prof_Kennedy @BrownUniversity @BrownSociology @pubstory @tompharvard @JMLudes @jseelybrown @Morning_Joe @costareports @khaila__ @KBAndersen @dlittle30 @TomPerez @robert_a_blair @craigjcalhoun @nyu_ipk @nkwarikoo @chinyereagbai @ASR_Journal @bartbonikowski @UMich @toddgitlin @DYStateofMind @emmaschow @alex_s_cramer @craigmelvin @billpeduto @peterbakernyt @CharlesMBlow @neal_katyal @gtconway3d @KamalaHarris @GovernorShapiro @GavinNewsom @HillaryClinton @BillClinton @PattyMurray @RepAnnieKuster @Ilhan @RepJamesClyburn @JasmineForUS @SenatorBaldwin @Columbia @Harvard @UMNews @RWPUSA
Those #AttackingUnis may not care about #HigherEd but our nation ought, for this knowledge culture is one of this country's greatest strengths. We need understand its qualities & newyorker.com/magazine/2025/… is 1 good place to start, even from @BrownUniversity. Thx @nathanheller 16/16
Will Harvard Bend or Break?

Will Harvard Bend or Break?

Free-speech battles and pressure from Washington threaten America’s oldest university—and the soul of higher education.

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Replying to @Prof_Kennedy @BrownUniversity @BrownSociology @pubstory @tompharvard @JMLudes @jseelybrown @Morning_Joe @costareports @khaila__ @KBAndersen @dlittle30 @TomPerez @robert_a_blair @craigjcalhoun @nyu_ipk @nkwarikoo @chinyereagbai @ASR_Journal @bartbonikowski @UMich @toddgitlin @DYStateofMind @emmaschow @alex_s_cramer @craigmelvin @billpeduto @peterbakernyt @CharlesMBlow @neal_katyal @gtconway3d @KamalaHarris @GovernorShapiro @GavinNewsom @HillaryClinton @BillClinton @PattyMurray @RepAnnieKuster @Ilhan @RepJamesClyburn @JasmineForUS @SenatorBaldwin @Columbia @Harvard @UMNews @RWPUSA @Macalester
Trump sees "unis, in the main, as enemies in the political culture wars.. but the protests of the past year have given the offensive a special edge (with his 2019) exec order to formalize antisemitism protections in Title VI" newyorker.com/magazine/2025/… 1/
Will Harvard Bend or Break?

Will Harvard Bend or Break?

Free-speech battles and pressure from Washington threaten America’s oldest university—and the soul of higher education.

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>> @nathanheller asks: "How did so many perceptions disprovable with ten seconds of Googling become fixed in the voting public’s mind? And why, even as misapprehensions were corrected, did those beliefs prevail?"
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Vice President Kamala Harris’s adult life started at Howard—so it was fitting that the final hours of her campaign would see a return back home. vogue.com/article/kamala-har…
At Howard University, a Bittersweet End to a Historic Presidential Campaign

At Howard University, a Bittersweet End to a Historic Presidential Campaign

Vice President Kamala Harris’s adult life started at Howard—so it was fitting that the final hours of her campaign would see a return back home.

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Drew Tuma (@DrewTumaABC7) profile picture
Drew Tuma@DrewTumaABC711 May 2024
Northern Lights over the Golden Gate Bridge captured by Hugo Lageneste. Would’ve never thought living in the Bay Area we would ever see the aurora borealis but last night was incredible
Image from Drew Tuma (@DrewTumaABC7)
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This, from @nathanheller’s piece on attention a few New Yorkers ago, is very precisely the definition of art that I used to teach my students. I like the way it’s framed here.
Image from Alissa Wilkinson (@alissamarie)
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The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile picture
The New Yorker
@NewYorker2 May 2024
While reporting on our diminishing attention spans, @nathanheller encountered the Order of the Third Bird—a secret international fellowship, supposedly going back centuries, the members of which meet to intentionally and intensely concentrate on art works. nyer.cm/fZ8xcCp
The Battle for Attention

The Battle for Attention

How do we hold on to what matters in a distracted age?

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The New Yorker (@NewYorker) profile picture
The New Yorker
@NewYorker29 Apr 2024
Luca Guadagnino’s absurdly sexy tennis film, “Challengers,” reached No. 1 at the box office this weekend. Revisit @nathanheller’s 2018 Profile of the Italian director: nyer.cm/wKLIVQY
A portrait of the Italian director Luca Guadagnino, by Alex Majoli / Magnum for The New Yorker. The headline reads: “Luca Guadagnino’s Cinema of Desire.”

ALT A portrait of the Italian director Luca Guadagnino, by Alex Majoli / Magnum for The New Yorker. The headline reads: “Luca Guadagnino’s Cinema of Desire.”

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John Updike in 1960, pastel and digital, after a photo by Alfred Knopf. Knopf took the photo after cutting some objectionable passages from Rabbit, Run. "I think what Alfred captured at that moment was the relaxed visage of a man who has decided to sell out," Updike wrote later.
Image from Nicholson Baker (@nicholsonbaker8)
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D. A. Powell (@Powell_DA) profile picture
D. A. Powell@Powell_DA16 Apr 2024
How absolutely wonderful to see Etel as today's Google doodle, with her beloved Mount Tamalpais peaking over her shoulder. ❤️❤️ #EtelAdnan
Image from D. A. Powell (@Powell_DA)
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