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 host of Normal Gossip. She previously wrote for Deadspin and Vox.

Early life and education

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

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]

Books

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.[10]

Personal life

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][11]

References
  1. Greenberg, Zoe (2023-05-30). "Kelsey McKinney is building a (socialist) gossip empire from Queen Village". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  2. Rosenthal, Abigail (2023-08-10). "How Texas Tall Tales Became 'Normal Gossip,' the Favorite Podcast of Snoops and Blabbermouths". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  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 2024-06-23.
  4. Sone, Sunny (2021-06-22). "A Feminist Rewrite of Lot". The Texas Observer. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  5. Tracy, Marc (2019-10-30). "Stick to Sports? No Way. Deadspin Journalists Quit en Masse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  6. Cohen, Danielle (2023-12-11). "Podcaster Kelsey McKinney Gets Paid to Gossip". The Cut. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  7. Hickey, Walt (September 10, 2020). "Defector's Kelsey McKinney on how 2020 destroyed the concept of "sticking to sports"". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  8. Bryant, Kenzie (2022-02-10). "Finally, an Antidote for the Lack of Low-Stakes Gossip in Our Lives". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  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 2024-06-23. 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. Puckett-Pope, Lauren (2024-05-01). "Kelsey McKinney, Host of Hit Podcast 'Normal Gossip,' Has a Juicy New Book on the Way". ELLE. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  11. Salamon, Jeff (2021-06-22). "Debut Novelist Kelsey McKinney on Losing Her Religion and Leaving Texas". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
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