Vann R. Newkirk II

Vann R. Newkirk II, 2020 New America Fellow, is a senior editor at The Atlantic, and the host and co-creator of narrative podcasts Floodlines and Holy Week. For years, Newkirk has covered voting rights, democracy, and environmental justice, with a focus on how race and class shape the country’s and the world’s fundamental structures, in print and audio. Newkirk was a 2022 Andrew Carnegie fellow, and was a 2020 James Beard Award finalist, and a 2018 recipient of the American Society of Magazine Editors’ ASME Next Award. In 2021, Newkirk received the Peabody Award for Floodlines. In 2024, Newkirk was named Journalist of the Year by the Washington Association of Black Journalists.