''Lenny Letter'', also known as ''Lenny'', was a weekly online

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

newsletter created by

Lena Dunham Lena Dunham (; born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series '' Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two G ...

and Jennifer Konner. ''Lenny'' also had a book imprint called Lenny Books on

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. It was shut down in October 2018.

History

In September 2015, Dunham and Konner started ''Lenny Letter'' as a self-funded project that would give a platform to young female voices to discuss feminist issues. The newsletter featured political essays, personal stories, interviews, artwork and even an advice column from Dunham and Konner themselves called "Letters to Lenny". Benjamin Cooley was the CEO. Laia Garcia was made deputy editor in July 2015. Notable articles include an essay written by actress

Jennifer Lawrence Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress and producer. She is known for starring in both action film franchises and independent dramas, and her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. The List of high ...

about the gender wage gap in Hollywood; one written by singer

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

about her decision to start wearing little to no make-up; and another by singer

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. Her first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round". Kesha's music and ima ...

on the release day of her single " Praying", her first in close to four years, about her public struggles against producer Dr. Luke (detailed in ''

Kesha v. Dr. Luke ''Kesha v. Dr. Luke'' refers to a series of lawsuits and countersuits between the singer Kesha, Kesha Rose Sebert (Kesha) and the music producer Dr. Luke, Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald (Dr. Luke). Sebert filed a civil suit against Gottwald in Octob ...

)''. ''Lenny Letter'' was supported by

Hearst Corporation Hearst Corporation, Hearst Holdings Inc. and Hearst Communications Inc. comprise an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate owned by the Hearst family and based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

advertising. After December 2017, it was supported by

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...

. In addition to the regular newsletter, ''Lenny Letter'' published a fiction issue and a poetry issue during fall 2015. ''Lenny Letter'' was developing a possible

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

short film series. In July 2017, ''Lenny Letter'' announced its first Lenny book imprint with

, writer Jenny Zhang's short story collection, ''Sour Heart.'' In November 2017, following Dunham and Konner's controversial letter denouncing Aurora Perrineau's accusation of sexual assault by Murray Miller, Zinzi Clemmons announced that she would no longer contribute to the newsletter, saying Dunham's racism was "well-known" and called for all women of color to "divest" from Dunham. In October 2018, it was announced the website would be shutting down, reportedly due to a decline in subscribers and failure to build momentum upon other platforms. Contributors were told a week prior to the shut down, receiving fees for unpublished written works.

Publications

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Featured

* Bett Williams * Lupe Valdez * Jeneca Jones * Else Bostelmann * Mya Spalter

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2015 establishments in the United States 2018 disestablishments in the United States Defunct feminist magazines published in the United States Liberal feminism Magazines established in 2015 Magazines disestablished in 2018 Defunct newsletters published in the United States Online magazines published in the United States Weekly magazines published in the United States