Applying Your Attention
<p>Niela Orr is a culture writer and editor who has published in <i>The Baffler, The Believer, </i>and <i>The Organist</i>, among others. Since 2022 she has worked as an editor at the <i>New York Times Magazine</i>. In conversation with Sky Goodden, Orr discusses her editing as being rooted in service, and her abiding sense of responsibility to the writers that she works with. Orr foregrounds this conversation with a reading from <i>Unexplained Presence</i> (Leon Works, 2007; Wave Books, 2024), by Tisa Bryant, a former mentor of hers. She also talks about the profound pleasure and significance of reading fiction and poetry. “If I’m not reading poetry, I feel like I’m losing access to possibility,” she says. And in turn, Orr says, “I write for patient readers.”</p>
Authors: Sky Goodden, Lauren Wetmore
Contributors: Niela Orr
Editor: Jacob Irish
Assistant Producer: Chris Andrews
Part of: Momus: The Podcast