Nora Magid (1926 - 1991) was a

Canadian-American Canadian Americans () are Citizenship of the United States, American citizens or in some uses residents whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadians, Canadian, or citizens of either country who hold dual citizenship. Today, many Canadian American ...

writer and professor in the department of English at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. She was the literary editor of '' The Reporter'' and is the namesake of the Nora Magid Mentorship Prize and the

PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing The PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing given by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) is awarded biennially to "a magazine editor whose high literary standards and taste have, throughout his or her career, contributed significantly t ...

Career

Magid was the literary editor of ''The Reporter'' from 1954 to 1968. In 1970, Magid began teaching classes in nonfiction writing at the University of Pennsylvania and became a senior lecturer in 1984. In 1988, Magid won the Provost's Award for distinguished teaching. Magid earned a reputation for being a skilled teacher and enthusiastic mentor, so much so that some former students of hers reportedly began calling themselves "Nora-ites." Magid's former students include Stephen Fried and

Jean Chatzky Jean Sherman Chatzky (born September 7, 1964) is an American journalist, a personal finance columnist, financial editor of NBC’s ''TODAY'' show, AARP’s personal finance ambassador, and the founder and CEO of the multimedia company HerMoney. E ...

. Upon Magid's death in 1991, Fried published an essay in ''Philadelphia'' magazine titled "My Last Paper for Nora: Notes on the passing of Penn's one-woman journalism school." Works by Magid have appeared in numerous publications, including

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

and

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

. Magid also had a long-term relationship with fellow writer and educator Gerald Weales.

Death

Magid died of natural causes in her home in

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Although there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the n ...

in March 1991. She was 65 years old. In 2003, a group of Magid's former students established the Nora Magid Mentorship Prize in her memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magid, Nora 1926 births 1991 deaths University of Pennsylvania faculty American magazine editors American academics