Kosner, Edward 1937-

PERSONAL: Born 1937, in New York, NY; married second wife, Julie Baumgold (a writer). Education: City College of the City University of New York, B.A., 1958. Religion: Jewish

ADDRESSES: Agent— Amanda Urban, ICM, 825 8th Ave., New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Journalist, editor, publisher. New York Post, New York, NY, 1958-63, began as rewrite man, became assistant city editor;Newsweek, New York, NY, 1963-79, began as national affairs writer, became editor;New York, New York, NY, 1980-93, began as editor, became editor and president;Esquire, New York, NY, editor-in-chief, 1993-97;Daily News, New York, NY, began as Sunday editor, became editor-in-chief, 1998-2003.

AWARDS, HONORS: Townsend Harris Medal, from City College of New York, 1979: Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel, both for “Justice on Trial.”

WRITINGS

It’s News to Me: The Making and Unmaking of an Editor (memoir), introduction by Pete Hamill, Thunder’s Mouth Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to numerous periodicals, including the New York Times, New York, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, New York Post, and the Daily News.

SIDELIGHTS: Edward Kosner graduated from City College of the City University of New York in 1958, and immediately embarked on a career in journalism that would last more that four decades. While still in school, he worked as the City College correspondent to the New York Times. In subsequent years, he has served as editor of Newsweek, New York, Esquire, and the Daily News, and written for numerous other periodicals. In 1979, City College awarded Kosner the Townsend Harris Medal, and his writing has also won various prizes, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel, both for “Justice on Trial,” an article he wrote for Newsweek. In It’s News to Me: The Making and Unmaking of an Editor, Kosner chronicles his life as a journalist, including the ups and downs of the job, and explains both the joys and the hardships of his career. Jack Shafer, writing for the New York Times, cited Kosner’s string of successes and opined: “As any editor can tell you, a book that’s mostly about having it all isn’t much of a book. This memoir marks one of the rare instances in which Kosner failed to get the story.” However, a contributor for Kirkus Reviews called the book “a meaty memoir” and “a compelling chronicle that follows a journalist—and journalism—from the age of typewriters to the era of BlackBerries.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

BOOKS

Kosner, Edward It’s News to Me: The Making and Unmaking of an Editor, Thunder’s Mouth Press (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2006, Vanessa Bush, review of It’s News to Me, p. 23.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2006, review of It’s News to Me, p. 618.

ONLINE

Los Angeles Times Online, http://calendarlive.com/books/ (September 26, 2006), Josh Getlin, “A Media Memoir: Longtime Newspaper and Magazine Editor Edward Kosner Offers a Cautionary Tale about Survival in That Professional Arena.”

New York Times Online, http://www.nytimes.com/ (October 1, 2006), Jack Shafer, “New York Confidential,” review of It’s News to Me.

Nonstop NY Web site, http://members.aol.com/nonstopny/eventbio.htm (January 29, 2007), City University of New York honors announcements.