# Kathryn Schulz

> Kathryn Schulz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker staff writer and the author of Being Wrong and Lost & Found. Across geology, literature, error, love, and the ordinary objects people misplace, she practices a recognizable kind of narrative journalism: begin with a familiar certainty, inspect it closely, and reveal the larger world hidden underneath.

- **Role:** Staff writer at The New Yorker
- **Organizations:** The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Grist, The Santiago Times
- **From:** Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA in History, Brown University, High school diploma, Shaker Heights High School
- **Known for:** Won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for The Really Big One., Won a 2016 National Magazine Award for The Really Big One., Won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography for Lost & Found.

## Career timeline

- **1996** — Graduated from Brown University with a degree in history; later moved to Portland, Oregon.
- **Late 1990s** — Moved to Latin America and became a reporter and editor at The Santiago Times in Chile, covering environmental, labor, and human-rights issues.
- **2001** — Returned to the United States and moved to New York to work for the environmental magazine Grist, where she later served as editor.
- **2004** — Received a Pew Fellowship in International Journalism and reported internationally.
- **2010** — Published Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error.
- **2011** — Delivered the TED talk On Being Wrong, which has accumulated more than five million plays on TED's site.
- **Before 2015** — Served as book critic for New York Magazine.
- **2015** — Joined The New Yorker as a staff writer and published The Really Big One, about Cascadia earthquake risk.
- **2016** — Won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing and a National Magazine Award for The Really Big One.
- **2017** — Published When Things Go Missing, the New Yorker essay that became the seed of Lost & Found.
- **2022** — Published Lost & Found, a memoir organized around loss, discovery, and the conjunction between them.
- **2023** — Won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography for Lost & Found.
- **2024-2026** — Continued writing criticism, essays, and reported features for The New Yorker on literature, natural science, history, and culture.

## Achievements

- Won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for The Really Big One.
- Won a 2016 National Magazine Award for The Really Big One.
- Won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography for Lost & Found.
- Received a 2004 Pew Fellowship in International Journalism.
- Published two books: Being Wrong and Lost & Found.
- Her work has been selected for Best American Essays, Best American Science and Nature Writing, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Food Writing.
- Her TED talk On Being Wrong has received more than five million plays on TED's website.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Published Dolly Parton for the People, a New Yorker postscript.
- **2026-02** — Published In an Age of Science, Tennyson Grappled with an Unsettling New World in The New Yorker.
- **2025-09** — Published Reading the New Pynchon Novel in a Pynchonesque America in The New Yorker.
- **2025-04** — Published When Jews Sought the Promised Land in Texas in The New Yorker.
- **2025-02** — Published An Arachnophobe Pays Homage to the Spider in The New Yorker.

## Links

- Website: https://www.kathrynschulz.com/home
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/kathrynschulz
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QleRgTBMX88

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kathryn-schulz
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-05