Rebecca Mead

Rebecca Mead (born 24 September 1966) is an English writer and journalist.

Early life and education

Rebecca Mead was born in London, England. ^[1] When she was three years old she relocated with her family to the seaside town of Weymouth in Dorset, where she grew up. ^[1] Mead's father was a civil servant. ^{[2] [3]} As a teenager she became interested in left-wing politics. ^[4]

Mead studied English literature at the University of Oxford. ^[4]

After graduating from Oxford she won a full scholarship to study for a master's degree in journalism at New York University. ^[3]

Career

While at NYU, Mead was employed as an intern by New York Magazine . ^[1] After graduation the magazine employed her as a fact checker. ^[1] After a few years she was promoted to features writer. ^[4] She joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 1997. ^[5]

Mead published My Life In Middlemarch (The Road to Middlemarch in the UK) in 2014. A personal study of George Eliot's best-known novel, it received mixed reviews. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Personal life

Mead was naturalised as an American citizen in 2011 ^[3] and moved back to the United Kingdom in 2018. ^{[3] [9] [10]}

Bibliography

Books

• Mead, Rebecca (2007). One perfect day : the selling of the American wedding. New York: Penguin Press.
• — (2014). The road to Middlemarch : my life with George Eliot. Granta Publications.
• — (2022). Home/land : a memoir of departure and return.

Chapters

• Mead, Rebecca (2017). "Eleanor Rigby". In Blauner, Andrew (ed.). In their lives : great writers on great Beatles songs . Blue Rider Press.

Essays, reporting and other contributions

• Mead, Rebecca (September 15, 1997). "Fax from the vineyard". The Talk of the Town. The New Yorker. 73 (27): 31.
• — (September 29, 1997). "The nostalgic gourmet". The Talk of the Town. The New Yorker.
• — (October 6, 1997). "The pictures". The Talk of the Town. The New Yorker.
• — (October 13, 1997). "The good old days". The Talk of the Town. The New Yorker.
• — (November 10, 1997). "Rag trade". The Talk of the Town. The New Yorker.
• — (November 17, 1997). "Ink". The Talk of the Town. The New Yorker. 73 (35): 37–38.
• — (December 22, 1997). "Pecking order". The Talk of the Town. The New Yorker. 73 (40): 49–50.
• — (May 24, 2010). "Fill in the blank". The Talk of the Town. Feathers Dept. The New Yorker. 86 (14): 20, 22.
• — (May 24, 2010). "Rage machine : Andrew Breitbart's empire of bluster". The Wayward Press. The New Yorker. 86 (14): 26–32.
• — (September 1, 2014). "The troll slayer : a Cambridge classicist takes on her sexist detractors". Profiles. The New Yorker. 90 (25): 30–36.
• — (February 9, 2015). "All about the Hamiltons". Onward and Upward with the Arts. The New Yorker. 90 (47): 48–57. ^[a]
• — (March 23, 2015). "Sole cycle : the homely Birkenstock gets a fashion makeover". On and Off the Avenue. The New Yorker. 91 (5): 42–48. ^[b]
• — (December 7, 2015). "The scream". The Talk of the Town. The Musical Life. The New Yorker. 91 (39): 26. ^[c]
• — (April 25, 2016). "Counterparts". The Talk of the Town. The Bench. The New Yorker. 92 (11): 35. ^[d]
• — (March 20, 2017). "Rise up : Alex Timbers directs 'Joan of Arc,' a musical call to arms for the Trump era". Onward and Upward with the Arts. The New Yorker. 93 (5): 44–51. ^[e]
• — (April 24, 2017). "Chewing it over". The Talk of the Town. Dept. of Big Questions. The New Yorker. 93 (10): 37–38. ^[f]
• — (May 8, 2017). "Under a bushel". The Talk of the Town. The Creative Life. The New Yorker. 93 (12): 18–19. ^[g]
• — (May 20, 2019). "Self-portrait of a lady". Onward and Upward with the Arts. The New Yorker. 95 (13): 28–34. ^[h]
• — (September 27, 2021). "Height of glamour : how the designer Harris Reed helps Harry Styles and Solange play with masculinity and femininity". The New Yorker. 97 (30): 44–57. ^[i]
• — (April 25 – May 2, 2022). "Norwegian wood : in Scandinavia, ecologically minded architects are building skyscrapers with pillars of pine and spruce". Onward and Upward with the Arts. The New Yorker. 98 (10): 48–55. ^[j]
• — (August 22, 2022). "Goop : Anish Kapoor has made a fortune sculpting with unusual materials". Profiles. The New Yorker. 98 (25): 42–53. ^[k]
• — (February 13–20, 2023). "The merry widow : the ninety-year-old aristocrat known for her cheeky accounts of the British élite". Onward and Upward with the Arts. The New Yorker. 99 (1): 18–24. ^[l]
• — "If You Can't Stand the Heat: Why menopause never gets old", The New Yorker , 10 March 2025, pp. 28–31. "If you've got ovaries, you'll go through it. Why do so many feel so blindsided?" (p. 28.)

———————

Notes

1. Online version is titled "A hip-hop interpretation of the Founding Fathers".
2. Online version is titled "Happy ugly feet".
3. Title in the online table of contents is "Marlis Petersen ends on a high note".
4. Title in the online table of contents is "'Custody,' a film of Family Court".
5. Online version is titled "A protest musical for the Trump era".
6. Online version is titled "When kids philosophize".
7. Online version is titled "Terence Davies’s poetic melancholy".
8. Online version is titled "Joanna Hogg's self-portrait of a lady".
9. Title in the online table of contents is "Harris Reed’s gender-fluid fashion".
10. Online version is titled "Transforming trees into skyscrapers".
11. Online version is titled "Anish Kapoor's material values".
12. Online version is titled "Oldest living aristocratic widow tells all".

References

1. iTunes (14 January 2019). "Always Take Notes". Always Take Notes (Podcast). Always Take Notes.
2. Mead, Rebecca (2014). The road to Middlemarch : my life with George Eliot. Granta Publications. p. 178.
3. Mead, Rebecca (20 August 2018). "A New Citizen Decides to Leave the Tumult of Trump's America". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
4. Mead, Rebecca (28 February 2014). "George Eliot, Middlemarch and me". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
5. "Rebecca Mead". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
6. Cooke, Rachel (16 March 2014). "The Road to Middlemarch review – Rebecca Mead's overly earnest thoughts on a masterpiece". The Observer. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
7. Wilson, Frances (24 March 2014). "The Road to Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
8. Oates, Joyce Carol (23 January 2014). "Deep Reader". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
9. Rothfeld, Becca (8 February 2022). "Politics Drove Rebecca Mead From Her Adopted Home and Into Her Next Book". New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
10. Hayes, Stephanie (23 February 2022). "Moving Back Home Isn't Just a Fallback Plan". The Atlantic. Retrieved 25 February 2022.