Wendy Lesser

Wendy C. Lesser is the Founding Editor of The Threepenny Review, one of the most respected and long-lasting literary magazines in America, in Berkeley, California. Elected 1994 (IV:4). From 1976 to 1980 Lesser and her friend Katharine Ogden worked as public policy consultants through their firm Lesser & Ogden Associates. In 1980 Lesser founded The Threepenny Review. She is the author of nine books, including her first novel, The Pagoda in the Garden (Other Press, 2005), and her latest nonfiction book, Music for Silenced Voices (Yale, 2012). Her works include one novel, two memoirs, several works of literary or cultural studies, and a biography of Shostakovich, and she is the editor of two books. She also writes book, dance, art, and music reviews for a variety of publications in this country and abroad, dividing her year between Berkeley and New York so as to cover cultural activities on both coasts. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.