Editor and speechwriter to give campus talk

Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, executive editor of Foreign Affairs and a former speechwriter for Hillary Clinton, will discuss navigating his dual careers in politics and journalism during a Jan. 24 campus visit as a Poynter Fellow in Journalism.

The event, co-sponsored by The New Journal, will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the Davenport College Common Room, 248 York St. The talk will be moderated by Lincoln Caplan, a senior research scholar at Yale Law School, and is free and open to the public.

Kurtz-Phelan currently serves as the executive editor of Foreign Affairs, a position he has held since October 2017. His previous work in politics includes serving as a member of the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff in the State Department and working as a speechwriter for Hillary R. Clinton. His work has been featured in various publications, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the New Yorker. In April 2018, W.W. Norton published his book “The China Mission: George Marshall’s Unfinished War, 1945-1947,” which explores the narrative history of George Marshall’s post-World War II mission to China.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established by Nelson Poynter, who received his master’s degree in 1927 from Yale. The fellowship brings to campus distinguished reporters, editors and others who have made important contributions to the media. Among recent Poynter fellows are Lisa Margonelli, Paula Croxson, and Lois Conner.