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Kelsey McKinney

Kelsey McKinney (born 1991 or 1992)[1] is an American journalist, podcaster, and author. She is a staff writer at Defector and the founding host of Normal Gossip. She previously wrote for Deadspin and Vox.

Early life and education

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McKinney grew up in Flower Mound, Texas.[2] Her father is an Evangelical pastor.[1]

She attended the University of Texas at Austin, earning a bachelor's degree in 2014. While in college, she interned at Reader's Digest and the Harry Ransom Center and began writing freelance stories. She served as an editor for The Daily Texan.[3]

Career

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McKinney previously wrote a newsletter, Written Out, about books written by women who had been marginalized in historical narratives.[4]

McKinney was hired at Deadspin in spring 2019. That October, she was one of 19 staffers at the publication who resigned in protest after editor Barry Petchesky was fired over a mandate to "stick to sports."[5][6] Over the following year, she and her former colleagues discussed the idea of a media company that more effectively centered writers. They proceeded to found the sports and culture site Defector, which is owned collectively as a worker cooperative.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she felt nostalgic for the experience of gossiping with friends in person and tweeted about the idea of hosting a gossip-centric podcast, which would become Normal Gossip.[1] She began working on the first season of the show with producer Alex Sujong Laughlin in September 2021, and it premiered five months later to critical and popular acclaim.[6][8][9] Both McKinney and Laughlin left Normal Gossip in December 2024, although they retained their positions at Defector.[10]

Books

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McKinney's 2021 debut novel, God Spare the Girls, follows two daughters of a Texas megachurch pastor who is revealed to have had an affair.[4] Her first essay collection, You Didn’t Hear This From Me, is scheduled for a February 2025 release by Grand Central Publishing.[11]

Personal life

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McKinney lives in the Queen Village neighborhood of Philadelphia with her husband and her dog, Georgia.[6][1] She was raised Evangelical, but no longer considers herself a believer in Christianity.[6][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Greenberg, Zoe (May 30, 2023). "Kelsey McKinney is building a (socialist) gossip empire from Queen Village". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  2. ^ Rosenthal, Abigail (August 10, 2023). "How Texas Tall Tales Became 'Normal Gossip,' the Favorite Podcast of Snoops and Blabbermouths". Texas Monthly. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  3. ^ "Rising Senior Kelsey McKinney puts her literary knowledge to work". College of Liberal Arts. The University of Texas at Austin. June 21, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Sone, Sunny (June 22, 2021). "A Feminist Rewrite of Lot". The Texas Observer. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  5. ^ Tracy, Marc (October 30, 2019). "Stick to Sports? No Way. Deadspin Journalists Quit en Masse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Cohen, Danielle (December 11, 2023). "Podcaster Kelsey McKinney Gets Paid to Gossip". The Cut. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  7. ^ Hickey, Walt (September 10, 2020). "Defector's Kelsey McKinney on how 2020 destroyed the concept of "sticking to sports"". Nieman Lab. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  8. ^ Bryant, Kenzie (February 10, 2022). "Finally, an Antidote for the Lack of Low-Stakes Gossip in Our Lives". Vanity Fair. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  9. ^ Scire, Sarah (June 8, 2022). "You didn't hear this from me, but Defector is getting a subscriber boost from its podcast Normal Gossip". Nieman Lab. Retrieved June 23, 2024. Three months after launching, Normal Gossip reached 500,000 listens. Six months in, the podcast sees around 100,000 downloads per episode. Tickets for the first live show — held last week — sold out in 48 hours.
  10. ^ Quah, Nicholas (December 10, 2024). "Why Normal Gossip's Creators Are Stepping Away". Vulture. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  11. ^ Puckett-Pope, Lauren (May 1, 2024). "Kelsey McKinney, Host of Hit Podcast 'Normal Gossip,' Has a Juicy New Book on the Way". ELLE. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  12. ^ Salamon, Jeff (June 22, 2021). "Debut Novelist Kelsey McKinney on Losing Her Religion and Leaving Texas". Texas Monthly. Retrieved June 23, 2024.