{{Short description|American writer and magazine editor (born 1975)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Jake Silverstein | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1975}} | birth_place = California, U.S. | education = Wesleyan University<br>Hollins University<br>University of Texas at Austin | occupation = Magazine editor | employer = ''The New York Times Magazine'' | spouse = Mary LaMotte Silverstein | children = 2 | website = }}

'''Jake Silverstein''' (born 1975) is an American writer and magazine editor. He is the editor-in-chief of ''The New York Times Magazine'' and the author of ''Nothing Happened and Then It Did'', a novelized memoir.

==Early life and education== Silverstein was raised in Oakland, California, in a Jewish family,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marmer |first1=Jake |title=Murray Silverstein's Metaphysical Chickens |url=https://forward.com/schmooze/145047/murray-silverstein-s-metaphysical-chickens/ |website=Forward |access-date=13 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Silverstein |first1=Mary |title=Interview with Jake Silverstein, Editor in Chief, New York Times Magazine |url=https://digitalcollections.jtsa.edu/islandora/object/jts%3A666566 |access-date=13 December 2023 |agency=Jewish Theological Seminary |date=15 December 2021}}</ref> the eldest of two children.<ref name=":0" /> His mother was a psychoanalyst and his father an architect.<ref name=":0" /> He attended Wesleyan University<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://observer.com/2015/02/jake-silversteins-new-york-times-magazine/|title=Nothing Happened and Then It Did: Jake Silverstein's New New York Times Magazine|date=2015-02-20|work=Observer|access-date=2018-07-03|language=en-US}}</ref> where he majored in English, and later earned an M.A. in English from Hollins University<ref name=":0" /> and then an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin's Michener Center for Writers<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://flavorwire.com/454733/who-is-jake-silverstein-new-editor-of-the-new-york-times-magazine|title=Who Is Jake Silverstein, New Editor of 'The New York Times Magazine'?|last=Donnelly|first=Elisabeth|date=2014-05-01|work=Flavorwire|access-date=2018-07-03|language=en-US}}</ref> in 2006.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.chron.com/life/article/Texas-Monthly-editor-Jake-Silverstein-brings-1731858.php|title=Texas Monthly editor Jake Silverstein brings fresh energy|date=November 15, 2009|work=Houston Chronicle|access-date=2018-07-03}}</ref> He was a Fulbright scholar in Zacatecas, Mexico, in 2002.<ref name=":1" />

== Career == After graduating from college, Silverstein interned at ''Harper's'' in 1998, continued at the magazine for a year as a fact-checker,<ref name=":1" /> then moved to ''The Big Bend Sentinel'' in Marfa, Texas in 1999.<ref name=":0" />

Silverstein was the editor of ''Texas Monthly'' from 2008 to 2014, during which time the magazine won four National Magazine Awards in 12 nominations.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jimromenesko.com/2014/03/28/texas-monthlys-jake-silverstein-is-named-new-york-times-magazine-editor/ |title=Texas Monthly's Jake Silverstein is named New York Times Magazine editor |access-date=2014-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180610202310/http://jimromenesko.com/2014/03/28/texas-monthlys-jake-silverstein-is-named-new-york-times-magazine-editor/ |archive-date=2018-06-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Under his tenure, the magazine had a circulation of approximately 300,000 and rising revenue, in contrast to many similar publications in the same period.<ref name=":0" /> He became the editor of ''The New York Times Magazine'' in May 2014,<ref name=":0" /> since which time the magazine has won 14 National Magazine Awards. The Magazine has also won 7 Pulitzer Prizes, in Feature Writing (2015, 2024), Commentary (2020), Criticism (2021), International Reporting (2022), Illustrated Reporting and Commentary (2023), and Public Interest (2024).

He is the author of the hybrid memoir-novel ''Nothing Happened and Then It Did'', which he wrote during his M.F.A. program<ref name=":1" /> and published in 2010<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jake-silverstein/nothing-happened-and-then-it-did/|title=NOTHING HAPPENED AND THEN IT DID|date=February 15, 2010|work=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=July 2, 2018}}</ref> with W.W. Norton & Company.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-18-la-ca-jake-silverstein18-2010apr18-story.html|title='Nothing Happened and Then It Did: A Chronicle in Fact and Fiction' by Jake Silverstein|last=Kellogg|first=Carolyn|date=2010-04-18|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-07-03|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/nothing-happened-and-then-it-did/|title=Nothing Happened and Then It Did|last=Andrews|first=Michael|date=May 3, 2010|website=Bomb Magazine|access-date=2018-07-03}}</ref>

=== 1619 Project ===

As editor-in-chief of the ''New York Times Magazine'', Silverstein has played a role in the 1619 Project, a view of the role of slavery in the history of the United States. Some historians argue the project contains factual inaccuracies and distortions in attributing slavery a central role in the American Revolution.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/1619-project-new-york-times-wilentz/605152|title=A Matter of Facts The New York Times' 1619 Project launched with the best of intentions, but has been undermined by some of its claims|last=Wilentz|first=Sean|date=January 22, 2020|publisher=The Atlantic}}</ref> Silverstein has disputed those claims.<ref name="NYT-response">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/magazine/we-respond-to-the-historians-who-critiqued-the-1619-project.html|title=We Respond to the Historians Who Critiqued The 1619 Project|last=Silverstein|first=Jake|date=December 20, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115075830/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/magazine/we-respond-to-the-historians-who-critiqued-the-1619-project.html|archive-date=January 15, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The author's essay for the project won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2020, while the project itself has won many other honors.<ref name="Pulitzer1">{{cite web |last1=Barrus |first1=Jeff |title=Nikole Hannah-Jones Wins Pulitzer Prize for 1619 Project |url=https://pulitzercenter.org/blog/nikole-hannah-jones-wins-pulitzer-prize-1619-project |publisher=Pulitzer Center |date=4 May 2020 |access-date=May 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506072348/https://pulitzercenter.org/blog/nikole-hannah-jones-wins-pulitzer-prize-1619-project |archive-date=May 6, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> The 1619 Project book spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list.

== Personal life == He is married to archivist Mary LaMotte Silverstein, with whom he has two sons.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/media/story/2014/04/new-blood-can-a-texas-transplant-make-the-times-magazine-matter-again-002139/|title=New blood: Can a Texas transplant make the Times Magazine matter again?|last=Pompeo|first=Joe|date=April 28, 2014|publisher=Politico}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverstein, Jake}} Category:Living people Category:1975 births Category:Writers from Oakland, California Category:American magazine editors Category:Writers from Austin, Texas Category:American male journalists Category:The New York Times people Category:People from Marfa, Texas Category:American male novelists Category:American memoirists Category:Michener Center for Writers alumni