Brigid Hughes

Brigid Hughes is a Brooklyn, New York-based literary editor. Hughes is best-known for assuming the executive editor role at literary journal The Paris Review after the death of founding editor George Plimpton[1] and for founding the literary magazine A Public Space in 2006.

Brigid Hughes
Born
Buffalo, New York
NationalityAmerican
Occupationliterary editor
Years active1996–present

Early life and education

Hughes was born and grew up in Buffalo, New York. Her parents were Patrick Hughes, a doctor, and Patricia Hughes, a research nurse.[1][2]

In 1990, she graduated from the Nichols School.[3]

In 1994, Hughes received a bachelor's degree in English from Northwestern University.[2]

Career

After graduating from Northwestern University, Hughes moved to New York and in 1995 started a job as an intern at The Paris Review before being hired there full-time later that year.[1]

For three years she served as managing editor.[4] After the death of editor George Plimpton, Hughes became executive editor.[2] As de facto editor (she declined to use the title "editor" out of respect for Plimpton[2]), she continued its tradition of accepting unsolicited submissions (the 'slush pile') as an important part of the role of smaller journals to promote new writers.[2][5] Hughes left the executive editor position after only one year, when the (newly created) Board of Directors did not renew her contract,[4][6] appointing Philip Gourevitch.[7][8]

After leaving The Paris Review, Hughes founded A Public Space, a nonprofit quarterly English-language literary magazine based in Brooklyn, New York, in 2006.[9] Under Hughes' editorship, A Public Space has gained a reputation for spotting and publishing writers before they become widely known – twice National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, whose first published short story, "Cattle Haul," appeared in A Public Space in January 2008,[10] being one example.[11]

In 2007, Hughes was co-curator with Peter Conroy and Jake Perlin of the Between the Lines arts festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[12] She is a frequent speaker and panelist at literary conferences, including the Lannan Foundation conference in 2010,[13] and the PEN America literary conference, Literary Quartet: Two on Two, in 2014.[14]

As of 2012, Hughes is a contributing editor to Graywolf Press.[15]

Works and publications
  • Park, Ed; Hughes, Brigid, eds. (2015). Buffalo Noir. Brooklyn, NY: Akashic Books. ISBN 978-1-617-75421-0. OCLC 907677036.

References
  1. Smith, Dinitia (January 24, 2004). "An Editor, 31, Who's at Ease With Big Egos". The New York Times.
  2. Johnson, Kate (Summer 2004). "A new Editor at the Helm". Northwestern Magazine. Northwestern University. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  3. "Notable Alumni: Brigid Hughes '90 (Editor)". Nichols School. 1990.
  4. Wyatt, Edward (January 20, 2005). "Plimpton's Big Shoes Are Vacant Yet Again". The New York Times.
  5. Newton, Maude (June 8, 2004). "Interview with Brigid Hughes on unsolicited submissions and emerging writers". MaudeNewton.com.
  6. Haber (January 20, 2005). "Brigid Hughes Out at Paris Review". Gawker.
  7. Wyatt, Edward (March 18, 2005). "New Editor of Paris Review Is Writer for The New Yorker". The New York Times.
  8. Itzkoff, Dave (March 5, 2010). "Paris Review Names New Editor". ArtsBeat, The New York Times.
  9. McFadden, McKay (November 8, 2006). "A place for fiction: A conversation with Brigid Hughes, editor of A Public Space". The Villager. 76 (25). Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  10. Ward, Jessamyn (January 2008). "Cattle Haul". A Public Space.
  11. Rudin, Michael (December 13, 2011). "Fiction Writers Review". Fiction Writers Review.
  12. Zuarino, John (October 22, 2010). "You Got a Problem With That?". Electric Literature.
  13. Li, Yiyun; Hughes, Brigid (May 12, 2010). "Kindness by Yiyun Li, including interview with Brigid Hughes" (Video interview). Lannan Foundation.
  14. "Literary Quartet: Two on Two". PEN America. May 2, 2014.
  15. Kirch, Claire (February 28, 2012). "Graywolf Goes Public with Literary Magazine". Publishers Weekly.
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