When was The Paris Review founded and by whom?
The Paris Review launched in the spring of 1953. Three young men named Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton started the magazine in a small room above Éditions de la Table ronde.
Questions about The Paris Review
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who edited The Paris Review from its founding until 2003?
George Plimpton edited The Paris Review from its founding until his death in 2003 after fifty years of leadership. Brigid Hughes became the second editor and first female editor in January 2004 following Plimpton's passing.
What is the Writers at Work series in The Paris Review?
An interview with E. M. Forster marked the beginning of a long series now known as Writers at Work. The series has featured conversations with Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, Jorge Luis Borges, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Thornton Wilder, Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda, William Carlos Williams, and Vladimir Nabokov among hundreds of others.
Did The Paris Review receive funding from the Central Intelligence Agency?
Historian Frances Stonor Saunders noted that while not directly funded by the CIA, The Paris Review operated within postwar networks supported by the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Archival records show occasional indirect benefits came from selling reprints to CCF-affiliated journals like Encounter and Preuves.
When did The Paris Review make its entire interview archive available online?
In September 2010, the magazine made its entire interview archive available online for free access. An iPad and iPhone app launched the 8th of October 2012 through developer Atavist included full interview archives alongside fiction and poetry sections.