Alum Named New Yorker’s Managing Editor

Former Crimson editor Amelia E. Lester ’05 has been named managing editor of The New Yorker.

The 26-year-old previously worked as a fact checker for the magazine and will replace Kate Julian, who is stepping down to freelance and to join her husband in Washington, D.C. Lester most recently worked as an editor at the Paris Review, a literary magazine based in New York City.

During her undergraduate years at The Crimson, the Australian native worked as an executive editor of the weekend magazine Fifteen Minutes and later as an editorial columnist.

Lester often alluded to her Aussie roots in her FM pieces, even writing a guide to “Australian Slang from A to Zed.”

“She has always been well-known and respected for her tremendous literary knowledge across all genres,” said former Crimson President Erica K. Jalli ’05. “She was a standout talent in our Crimson guard, combining dry wit with a highly cerebral style.”

Lester was also features editor at the Harvard Advocate and editor of Let’s Go 2004: Australia.

During her senior year at Harvard, Lester joined the editorial staff of Harvard Magazine as one of the two Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows and wrote several columns on topics ranging from surviving the black-pinstripe-suit-days of her senior year job hunt to navigating life after college, which she likened to dousing herself in her mother’s perfume and playing dress-up as a five-year-old.

The former Adams House resident graduated from the College with a degree in English and American literature and language.

“I’m looking forward to returning to the New Yorker and working hard in a new role,” Lester wrote in an e-mailed statement.

A spokesperson for The New Yorker declined to comment for this article, stating that it would be “premature” at this point.

—Staff writer June Q. Wu can be reached at junewu@fas.harvard.edu.