MELISSA WHITWORTH
  • Solutions Journalism
    • Hope on the Homefront
    • Road to Refuge
  • Interviews
  • Magazines
  • About
  • Solutions Journalism
    • Hope on the Homefront
    • Road to Refuge
  • Interviews
  • Magazines
  • About
Melissa Whitworth is a feature writer based in New York.
Recent stories include interviews with Lindsey Boylan, Keri Blakinger, and Paulina Porizkova; and an examination of feminism and witchcraft. She is writing a book about women’s bodies, and is represented by Gráinne Fox at Fletcher & Company.
In 2018, after 13 years working in newspapers Whitworth completed an M.A. in English Literature at Syracuse University, with a focus on trauma theory, critical race theory and feminist studies. While studying, she also worked on local freelance Solutions Journalism assignments, including a ten-part series on veterans in Upstate New York, and refugees in Ithaca, NY. During the Covid-19 pandemic she interviewed 14 non-profit organizations serving vulnerable populations in the Greater New York area, now conducting their work alongside a public health crisis.
She started her career at The Times of London on the arts desk, and at Harper’s Bazaar on the features desk, and has freelanced widely. At The Daily Telegraph, she worked for over a decade in their New York bureau, starting in April 2001. Her first reporting assignment was interviewing first responders digging through the rubble at Ground Zero following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
For several years she covered the glossier side of life in New York: cover interviews with Cameron Diaz, Gisele Bundchen, Miranda Kerr, Amber Heard, Rachel Weisz; and arts and culture features interviewing J.C. Chandor, Joan Rivers, Gabriel Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, Anna Netrebko, Judy Blume, Anthony Bourdain, Alice Cooper and Annie Leibovitz.


Solutions Journalism

  • Hope on the Homefront - A 10-part series in the Ithaca Voice about Ithaca veterans' return to civilian life.
  • Road to Refuge - A multipart series by Melissa Whitworth in the Ithaca Voice taking an in-depth look at refugees coming to Ithaca. ​

More Solutions Journalism

Interviews


  • ​​How an ice skating Olympic hopeful went from heroin to jail to penal reform crusader - The Independent, July 2022
  • Paulina Porizkova: ‘I will do with my body as I please’ - You Magazine, June 2022
  • ‘It’s still taboo, it’s still dangerous’: How modern day witches in America are reclaiming history for feminism - The Independent, October 2021
  • Lindsey Boylan: The woman who brought down Andrew Cuomo and the ‘nuclear bomb’ it dropped on her life - The Independent, September 2021
  • ​Annie Leibovitz - “Annie Leibovitz is a Woman of the Year because…” - Glamour, October 2012
  • ​Brit Marling​ - “Out of this world” - Telegraph Magazine, November 26, 2011
  • ​Joan Rivers - “The queen of comedy reflects on her past” - Arts, The Daily Telegraph, October 30, 2010
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More Interviews

Magazines

  • Paulina Porizkova: ‘I will do with my body as I please’ - You Magazine, June 2022
  • “All is Bright” - Telegraph Magazine, December 24, 2011
  • “A decade of disbelief” - News Review, The Daily Telegraph, September 3, 2011

More Magazines

Contact

​Melissa Whitworth
917-513-8863
​Email