Emma Sarappo

I’m an editor and critic. Currently, I’m a senior associate editor for The Atlantic, covering books and literary culture. Previously, I was the arts editor at Washington City Paper. I'm from south of Nashville, Tennessee, and I live in Washington, D.C.

To read all of my writing at The Atlantic, click here.

EDITING CLIPS

• Part of the team that assembled The Atlantic’s package of the great American novels in March 2024

• … as well as The Atlantic’s package of the best American poetry of the 21st century (so far) in March 2025 and its 65 essential children’s books in October 2025

• The Atlantic 10, The Atlantic’s best books of the year: 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025

• The Atlantic’s summer reading package: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026

• A Novel About the Benefits—And Costs—Of Being a Rebel: On Dave Eggers’s Contrapposto, by Tope Folarin (2026, The Atlantic)

• The Incredible Freedom of Not Trying to Look Good: On Stephanie Fairyington’s Ugly, by Ilana Masad (2026, The Atlantic)

• An Urgent Question for Anyone Who Uses Social Media: On Fortesa Latifi’s Like, Follow, Subscribe, by Kristen Martin (2026, The Atlantic)

• A New Direction for the Trans Novel: On Jordy Rosenberg’s Night Night Fawn, by Isle McElroy (2026, The Atlantic)

• A Novel About the Costs of Family Secrets: On Quiara Alegría Hudes’s The White Hot, by Ruth Madievsky (2026, The Atlantic)

• A Bizarre, Challenging Book More People Should Read: On Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff’s Your Name Here, by Robert Rubsam (2026, The Atlantic)

• American Suburbs Have a Financial Secret: On Michael Glass’s Cracked Foundations, by Michael Waters (2025, The Atlantic)

• The Publishing Industry’s Most Swoon-Worthy Genre, by Rebecca Ackermann (2025, The Atlantic)

• A Book That Changed How I Think, by The Atlantic Culture Desk (2023, The Atlantic)

• My Novel Is a Love Letter My Mother Can’t Read, by Jenny Xie (2023, The Atlantic)

• Why Kids Aren’t Falling in Love With Reading, by Katherine Marsh (2023, The Atlantic)

• 12 Books to Help You Love Reading Again, by The Atlantic Culture Desk (2022, The Atlantic)

• The Legendary Inner Ear Studios Closes a Chapter, by Christina Smart (2021, WCP cover story)

• State of the Arts 2021, various authors (2021, WCP special arts issue with six feature stories)

CRITICISM

• The Writers Who Can’t Let Go of the South (2026, The Atlantic)

• Three Very Different Ways to Live Honestly: On Emily St. James’s Woodworking (2025, The Atlantic)

• A Delightfully Frenetic Cult Classic: On Chloe Caldwell’s Women (2025, The Atlantic)

• What a 16-Year-Old Doesn’t Yet Know (2024, The Atlantic)

• The Knausgård Book That Deserves More Attention (2024, The Atlantic)

• The Feeling That’s Hardest to Communicate (2024, The Atlantic)

• What the Challenger Disaster Proved (2024, The Atlantic)

• Against Counting the Books You Read (2024, The Atlantic)

• Our Flag Means Death Is the Opposite of Queerbaiting (2022, The Atlantic)

• Fake Accounts Is a Novel That Feels Like an Endless Scroll (2021, Washington City Paper)

REPORTING

• This Pride Month, the Backlash Has Officially Arrived (2025, The Atlantic)

• How to Keep Your Book Club From Becoming a Wine Club (2022, The Atlantic)

• This Is a Shakedown: Texas has a book-banning problem (2021, The Atlantic)

• Can Dupont Underground Survive Financial Woes and Government Foot-Dragging? (2020, Washington City Paper cover story)

• The Star of Norwegian Knitwear (2018, The Atlantic)

• Can’t Get There From Here (2017, The Bitter Southerner)