Derek Thompson | |
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 Thompson in 2017 | |
| Born | May 18, 1986 McLean, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | Northwestern University (BA) |
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Derek Kahn Thompson (born May 18, 1986) [1] [2] is an American podcaster and journalist. He was a staff writer at The Atlantic from 2009 to 2025. He is the author of Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction and, with Ezra Klein, the co-author of Abundance.
Derek Thompson was born in McLean, Virginia, the son of Robert Thompson and Petra Kahn. [3] [4] Before graduating from high school, he appeared in several theatrical productions at the Folger Shakespeare Theater [5] and the Shakespeare Theater. [6] After attending the Potomac School, Thompson graduated from Northwestern University in 2008 with a triple major in journalism, political science, and legal studies. [7] [8] [9]
Thompson has been a writer at The Atlantic since 2009. [10] Starting in November 2021, Thompson began hosting a weekly headline podcast entitled Plain English, part of The Ringer Podcast Network. [11] In 2018, he became the host of the technology and science podcast Crazy/Genius, which was nominated for an iHeartMedia Best Podcast Award in its first year. [12]
Thompson has written two cover stories for the magazine. The first, "A World Without Work", is a widely referenced [13] [14] essay on the meaning of work and automation's threat to the labor force. The second was a lengthy profile of X, the research and development division of Alphabet. [15]
In 2017, Thompson published his first book, Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction. It was a national bestseller [16] and winner of the American Marketing Association's Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award for the best marketing book of 2018. [17] Thompson coauthored his next book, Abundance , with Ezra Klein. [18] The book discusses factors impeding progress on development in the United States, including related to climate change and infrastructure.
In June 2025, following the success of Abundance, Thompson left The Atlantic to launch a Substack newsletter, telling The Hollywood Reporter he wanted the space to make commentary "as an independent journalist and not as a sort of de facto semi-political actor working for a non-political institution." [19]
Thompson describes himself as a secular Reform Jew. [20] As of 2025 [update] , he and his wife reside in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with their daughter. [21] He is a subscriber to effective altruism. [22]
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