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Terry McDonell

Terry McDonell
Terry McDonell has published widely as a journalist, top-edited a number of magazines, and was elected to the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame in 2012. He is the author of The Accidental Life: A Editor's Notes on Writing and Writers and Irma: The Education of a Mother’s Son. He is president emeritus of the Paris Review Foundation and co-founder of Literary Hub. TerryMcDonell.com


The Craft of This Mortal Coil: Jonathan Gluck on Writing a Different Cancer Story

Terry McDonell in Conversation with the Author of “An Exercise in Uncertainty”
June 11, 2025  By Terry McDonell
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Graydon Carter on
The Golden Age of Magazines

Terry McDonell Talks to Legendary Editor About His New Book
March 25, 2025  By Terry McDonell
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How To Write About Your Mother

Terry McDonell: “I did not set out to write about Irma.”
May 12, 2023  By Terry McDonell
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“I Never Saw Her Cry.” Terry McDonell Remembers His Mother, Irma

“What passes between a mother and a son is not defined by her love in the moment, but later by the echoes of her motherhood.”
May 1, 2023  By Terry McDonell
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How Hunter S. Thompson Would Cover Donald Trump

Swap the Name "Trump" for "Nixon" and Let It Rip…
August 3, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: How the Hell Do You Get Paid?

Once Upon a Time, Writers Made Five Dollars a Word
August 2, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: Is Your Novel Actually Fiction or Non?

Truth Can Be Revealed in More Ways Than One
August 1, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: The Best Way to Deal with Rejection

“I long to hold the poetry editor’s penis in my hand.”
July 27, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: The Writer I Never Had to Edit

Terry McDonell on the Value of Leaving Well Enough Alone
July 26, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: Will You Tell the Truth?

Terry McDonell on the Deal All Writers Have to Make With Themselves
July 25, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: On Editing James Salter

Terry McDonell on Working with a "Writer's Writer"
July 20, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: Take Advantage of Your Insomnia

Terry McDonell on the Importance of Taking Nighttime Notes
July 19, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decide to Write: What I Learned Editing Hunter S. Thompson

Terry McDonell on the Origin of 'Gonzo' and Late Night Calls from Hunter
July 18, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: What I Learned From Editing Jim Harrison

Part Three of Terry McDonell's Summer Series on Becoming a Writer
July 13, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: When to Drown Your Darlings

Part Two in Terry McDonell's Summer Series on How to Be a Writer
July 12, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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So You’ve Decided to Write: Advice from a Great and Notorious Editor

Introducing a New Summer Series on Writing from Terry McDonell
July 11, 2017  By Terry McDonell
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How to Reject a Writer, and Other Advice For Editors

On Dealing with "Acid-Sucking Pieces of Illiterate Shit" and Holding the Poetry Editor's Penis
September 1, 2016  By Terry McDonell
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Terry McDonell Remembers Jim Harrison

"Eat or Die" Was His Motto
March 31, 2016  By Terry McDonell
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