Gail Collins

For the songwriter, see Gail Collins Pappalardi.

Gail Collins
Gail Collins at Rutgers University in 2019
Born	Gail Gleason (1945-11-25) November 25, 1945 (age 79) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Journalist, op-ed columnist
Alma mater	Marquette University (B.A.) University of Massachusetts Amherst (M.A.)
Notable works	As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present
Spouse	Dan Collins ​ ​ (m. 1970;died 2024)​
Website
about.me/gailcollins

Gail Collins (born November 25, 1945) ^[1] is an American journalist, op-ed columnist and author, most recognized for her work with The New York Times . ^{[2] [3]} Joining the Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, she served as the paper's Editorial Page Editor from 2001 to 2007 and was the first woman to attain that position. ^[2]

During her tenure at the Times, Collins authored a weekly op-ed column from her liberal perspective. ^[4] Starting in 2014, she also co-wrote a blog with the conservative columnist Bret Stephens called "The Conversation," featuring bi-partisan political commentary. ^[5] In 2025, Collins stepped away from her role as a weekly columnist, though she continues to publish in the Times as a contributing writer. ^[6]

Biography

Born in Cincinnati in 1945 as Gail Gleason, ^[1] Collins attended Seton High School before earning a B.A. in journalism at Marquette University in 1967 and an M.A. in government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1971. ^{[7] [8]}

Following graduation from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she wrote for Connecticut publications, including the Hartford Advocate , ^[9] and, in 1972, founded the Connecticut State News Bureau, a news service providing coverage of the state capital and Connecticut politics. ^[10] When she sold the bureau in 1977, it had grown into the largest service of its kind in the United States. ^[10] As a freelance writer in the late 1970s, she wrote weekly columns for the Connecticut Business Journal and was a public affairs host for Connecticut Public Television. ^{[10] [11]}

From 1982 to 1985 Collins covered finance as a reporter for United Press International. ^{[7] [10]} She wrote as a columnist for the New York Daily News from 1985 to 1991. ^{[7] [10]}

From 1991 to 1995, Collins worked for Newsday . ^{[7] [10]} She then joined The New York Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, ^[8] and later as an op-ed columnist. In 2001, she was named the paper's first female Editorial Page Editor, a position she held for six years. She resigned from this post at the beginning of 2007 to take a six-month leave to focus on writing her book When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, returning to the Times as a regular columnist in July 2007. ^[2]

Beyond her work as a journalist, Collins has published several books: The Millennium Book, which she co-authored with her husband, CBS News producer Dan Collins; Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics; America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines; the aforementioned When Everything Changed; and As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda. ^{[2] [12] [13]} She also wrote the introduction for the 2013 50th-anniversary edition of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. ^[14] In 2019, her book No Stopping Us Now: The Adventures of Older Women in American History was published. ^[15]

Bibliography

External videos
Booknotes interview with Collins on America's Women, December 14, 2003, C-SPAN
Washington Journal interview with Collins on When Everything Changed, October 20, 2009, C-SPAN
After Words interview with Collins on When Everything Changed, January 2, 2010, C-SPAN
Discussion with Collins on As Texas Goes...', June 10, 2012, C-SPAN
Interview with Collins on When Everything Changed, January 15, 2017, C-SPAN
Interview with Collins on Now Stopping Us Now, September 26, 2020, C-SPAN

• With Dan Collins: The Millennium Book. Main Street Books. 1990. ISBN   0-385-41165-0.
• America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines. William Morrow and Company. 2003. ISBN   0-06-018510-4.
• Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics. William Morrow and Company. 1998. ISBN   0-688-14914-6.
• When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present. Little, Brown and Company. 2009. ISBN   978-0-316-05954-1.
• As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda. New York: Liveright Publishing Corp., 2012. ISBN   978-0-87140-407-7
• William Henry Harrison: The American Presidents Series: The 9th President, 1841. New York: Times Books, 2012. ISBN   9780805091182
• "Introduction" (2013), in: Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique . 50th anniversary edition. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN   978-0-393-063790.
• No Stopping Us Now: A History of Older Women in America. Little, Brown and Company, 2019 ISBN   9780316286541

References

1. Thompson, Clifford, ed. (1999). Current biography yearbook. H.W. Wilson Company. ISBN   0-8242-0988-5.
2. "Gail Collins" [columnist biography]. New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
3. "UMass Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences: Alumni—Gail Collins". University of Massachusetts Amherst. Archived from the original on June 15, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
4. Folkenflik, David (December 20, 2011). "Why Is Times Columnist Gail Collins So Obsessed With Mitt Romney's Dog?". NPR. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
5. "The Conversation". The New York Times.
6. "Gail Collins's Next Chapter". The New York Times Company. November 18, 2025. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
7. Fisher, Luchina (November 30, 2003). "Gail Collins: History Maker and Women's Historian" (Journalist of the Month). WeNews. Retrieved September 27, 2015 from womensenews.org
8. "Gail Collins Is Joining Times Editorial Board" (September 5, 1995). New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
9. "Gail Collins Named Lifetime Achievement Winner" (January 12, 2012). National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Retrieved September 27, 2015 from www.columnists.com
10. "Columnist Biography: Gail Collins" (April 5, 2001). New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
11. "Knight Fellowships: 2003 Knight Lecture: Gail Collins". Stanford University. Archived from the original on October 14, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
12. "Collins, Gail" (2014). In: K. H. Nemeh (Ed.), The Writers Directory. 32nd ed. Vol. 1. Farmington Hills, MI: St. James Press. p. 637.
13. Ostrow, Joanne (June 3, 2012). "Book review: Columnist Gail Collins mixes trademark humor with politics in "How Texas hijacked the American Agenda"". Denver Post.
14. "The Feminine Mystique". W. W. Norton & Company. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
15. No Stopping Us Now. February 5, 2019. ISBN   978-0-316-28654-1.

External links

• Gail Collins' page at the New York Times
• Gail Collins author page at W.W. Norton
• Gail Collins page at NPR
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Booknotes interview with Collins (December 14, 2003), concerning her book, America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines