Gail Collins (born November 25, 1945^[1]) is an American journalist, op-ed columnist and author, most recognized for her work with the New York Times.^[2][3] Joining the Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, from 2001 to 2007 she served as the paper's Editorial Page Editor – the first woman to attain that position.^[2] Collins writes a semi-weekly op-ed column for the Times, published Thursdays and Saturdays.^[2] She also co-authors a blog with David Brooks, "The Conversation," at NYTimes.com, featuring political commentary.^[4]

Biography [edit]

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1945 as Gail Gleason,^[1] Collins has a B.A. in journalism from Marquette University^[5] and an M.A. in government from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.^[3] She wrote for Connecticut publications like the Hartford Advocate and, in 1972, founded the Connecticut State News Bureau, a news service providing coverage of the state capital and Connecticut politics; when she sold it in 1977, it had grown into the largest service of its kind in the United States.^[2] Collins later wrote as a columnist for the New York Daily News, Newsday, and the Connecticut Business Journal, as a financial reporter for United Press International, and as a public affairs host for Connecticut Public Television.^[2][6]

Collins joined The New York Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board, and later as an op-ed columnist. In 2001, she was named the paper's first female Editorial Page Editor, a position she held for six years. She resigned from this post at the beginning of 2007 to take a six-month leave to focus on writing her book When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, returning to the Times as a regular columnist in July 2007.^[2]

Beyond her work as a journalist, Collins has published several books: The Millennium Book, which she co-authored with her husband, CBS News producer Dan Collins; Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics; America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines; the aforementioned When Everything Changed;^[2][5] and As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda'.^[7]

Collins has also taught journalism at Southern Connecticut State University and, as of Fall 2009, Collins co-teaches (with Seth Lipsky) an opinion writing course in Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She occasionally appears alongside her New York Times colleague David Brooks as a fill-in for Mark Shields on PBS Newshour's Political Wrap. She has been a frequent guest on NPR^[8] and on the radio talk show of Jon Wiener in Southern California.^[9]

Bibliography [edit]

• With Dan Collins: The Millennium Book. Main Street Books. 1990. ISBN 0-385-41165-0. 
• America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines. William Morrow and Company. 2003. ISBN 0-06-018510-4. 
• Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics. William Morrow and Company. 1998. ISBN 0-688-14914-6. 
• When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present. Little, Brown and Company. 2009. ISBN 0-316-05954-4. 
• As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda. New York: Liveright Publishing Corp., 2012. ISBN 978-0-87140-407-7

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Gail Collins' page at the New York Times
• Gail Collins author page at W.W. Norton
• Gail Collins page at NPR
• Luchina Fisher (November 30, 2003), Gail Collins: History Maker and Women's Historian, Journalist of the Month, Women's eNews, retrieved October 1, 2011 
• Booknotes interview with Collins on America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines, December 14, 2003.