Kim Severson

(1961—)

Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Kim Severson earned her B.A. in journalism at Michigan State University before turning to a career in newspaper writing.  Currently a staff writer for the Dining Section of the New York Times, she previously wrote about cooking and the culture of food for the San Francisco Chronicle, following a seven-year stint as an editor and reporter at the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska.  Before writing about food full-time, she covered crime, education, social services, and government activities for several daily newspapers on the West Coast.  The author of two books—The New Alaska Cookbook (2001) and The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet (2003)—Severson has won several regional and national awards for news and feature writing, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for her work on childhood obesity in 2002 and four James Beard awards for food writing.  Her hobbies include cooking (no surprise there!), reading, and playing softball in Brooklyn, where she lives with her partner, Katia Hetter.  Her advice to students using The Prose Reader is to “always keep a notebook for moments of inspiration.  Keep writing down any important ideas and thoughts that you have.  You will inevitably forget that great idea if it’s not in the notebook.”

Related Readings and Other Background Information

• Fairyington, Stephanie.  “Challenging the marriage Imperative.”  Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 13.7 (Jan./Feb. 2007): 5-6.
• Kelley, Tina.  “A Different Kind of Gay Marriage Debate.”  New York Times 23 Mar. 2007: B5.
• Rauch, Jonathan.  Gay Marriage:  Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.  New York: Henry Holt, 2004.
• Smith, Raymond A.  “Gay Marriage: For Better or for Worse?  What We’ve Learned from the Evidence.”  Political Science Quarterly 122.2 (Summer 2007): 329-330.

"I’m Not Willing to Settle for Crumbs"

New York Times Biography – Kim Severson Homosexual (Same-Sex) Marriage Gay Marriage – Boston.com Same Sex Marriage: A Selective Bibliography of the Legal Literature Online Newshour – Gay Marriage