Frank Rich
New
York Times Op-Ed Columnist;
Magazine
Senior Writer
Frank
Rich, a columnist on the Op-Ed Page of The New York Times since January 1994, was
given the additional title of senior writer for The New York Times Magazine in
January 1999. The dual title was a first for The Times and allows Mr. Rich to
explore a variety of topics at greater length than before.
In
June 1999, he began writing a 1,400-word opinion piece that runs on the Op-Ed
Page every other Saturday (instead of the 700-word piece that ran twice a
week). He also writes articles and commentaries for the Magazine, drawing from
his background as a theater critic and observer of art, entertainment and
politics. Prior to writing his column, Mr. Rich served as The Times' chief
drama critic beginning in 1980, the year he joined The Times. During the
Presidential campaign year of 1992, Mr. Rich joined with the Times' Washington
reporter, Maureen Dowd, to write a daily column at the political conventions,
repeating the assignment for Inauguration week in Washington in January 1993.
In addition to his work at The Times, Mr. Rich has written about culture and politics for many other publications. His latest book, a childhood memoir titled "Ghost Light," was published in 2000 by Random House and as a Random House Trade Paperback in 2001. The film rights to "Ghost Light" have been acquired by Storyline Entertainment. A collection of Mr. Rich's drama reviews, "Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993," was published by Random House in October 1998. His book, "The Theatre Art of Boris Aronson," co-authored with Lisa Aronson, was published by Knopf in 1987.
Before
joining The Times, Mr. Rich was a film and television critic at Time magazine.
Earlier, he had been film critic for the New York Post and film critic and
senior editor of New Times magazine. He was a founding editor of the Richmond
(Va.) Mercury, a weekly newspaper, in the early 1970's.
Born
on June 2, 1949 in Washington, D.C., Mr. Rich is a graduate of its public
schools. He earned a B.A. degree in American History and Literature graduating
magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1971. At Harvard, he was editorial chairman
of The Harvard Crimson, an honorary Harvard College scholar, a member of Phi
Beta Kappa and the recipient of a Henry Russell Shaw Traveling Fellowship.
Mr.
Rich has two sons. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, the author and novelist
Alex Witchel, who is a reporter for The New York Times.
Frank Rich speaks to UH
Journalism Students
Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2003,
9 to 11:30 a.m. in
Campus Center 310