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Lila Shapiro

Features Writer
See all their articles from across New York Magazine
@lilapearl
lila.shapiro@nymag.com

Lila Shapiro is a features writer for New York Magazine. She has written about Hollywood controversies, literary mysteries, and political battles. She is the recipient of a 2022 Front Page award for her investigation into Joss Whedon.

  1. hollywood
    John of Crazy Days and Nights Blog. Portrait at Local Park
    The Man Who Gossiped Too MuchFor years, John Nelson anonymously posted blind items skewering the Hollywood elite on the blog Crazy Days and Nights. Then his identity was revealed.
  2. the industry
    Romeo and Juliet Was a TragedyIn 1968, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting were the most famous teenagers in the world. Fifty-five years later, they sued Paramount for child abuse.
  3. books
    The Spine CollectorFor five years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? A trap? Or a complete waste of time?
  4. the spine collector
    Filippo Bernardini Gave the Publishing World Something to Write AboutAnd received no jail time in the end.
  5. profile
    The Fabulist in the WoodsIn Northampton with Kelly Link and her community of like-minded writers.
  6. media
    An Evening With Parapraxis, a New Magazine for the New Freud CrowdA just-launched publication revels in a psychoanalysis renaissance.
  7. profile
    Nathan Fielder Is Out of His Mind (and Inside Yours)The comedian is known for his often hilarious, sometimes mean, always uncomfortable stunts. The Rehearsal is his grandest experiment yet.
  8. sexcerpt
    The Best Sex Julia May Jonas Has Ever Read“Knausgaard is always looking at the people around him as objects. It feels like someone who’s not fully comfortable writing about sex.”
  9. mysteries
    The Talented Mr. BernardiniIs this man the notorious Spine Collector?
  10. feature
    The Undoing of Joss WhedonThe Buffy creator, once an icon of Hollywood feminism, is now an outcast accused of misogyny. How did he get here?
  11. books
    How to Write a Twist EndingZakiya Dalila Harris knew The Other Black Girl would have a brutal finale — if she could just figure out how to get there.
  12. the industry
    Scott Rudin, As Told by His AssistantsA portrait of a toxic workplace.
  13. sexcerpt
    The Best Sex I’ve Ever Read: Vomit Erotica on Tumblr“If you can get off to one story more than ten times, that’s a win.”
  14. profile
    Torrey Peters Goes ThereThe author’s debut novel, Detransition, Baby, wades into two of the most vulnerable questions for trans women.
  15. books
    The Implosion of American DirtHow one of publishing’s most hyped books became its biggest horror story — and still ended up a best seller.
  16. friday night movie club
    It’s Christmas, So Let’s Watch Eyes Wide Shut for the 101st TimeAfter a miserable year, the holiday season is upon us again and we’re calibrating our seasonal movie selections accordingly.
  17. profile
    The Sci-Fi Author Reimagining Indigenous HistoryAs Rebecca Roanhorse’s novels have earned praise in the literary world, they’ve sparked controversy among some Native scholars.
  18. sexcerpt
    The Best Sex Emily M. Danforth Has Ever ReadThe Miseducation of Cameron Post author on the ineffable pleasures of Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt.
  19. profile
    Delusions of WhitenessIn Rumaan Alam’s new thriller, a white family staying at a Hamptons Airbnb is startled when the Black owners knock on the door.
  20. fall preview
    Piranesi Will Wreck YouThe novel establishes Susanna Clarke as one of our greatest living writers.
  21. fall preview
    19 Books We’re Excited to Read This FallElena Ferrante’s The Lying Life of Adults, Emma Cline’s Daddy, and Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind, and more.
  22. book drama
    Carlin Romano Keeps His Seat on the National Book Critics Circle BoardTwo-thirds were needed to remove Romano, but in the end, just 62 percent, or 104 members, voted for his removal.
  23. sexcerpt
    The Best Sex Raven Leilani Has Ever ReadThe author of Luster on the ecstatic, violent joy of Susan Choi’s My Education.
  24. anonymous in hollywood
    I’m a Writer on Cop Shows. A Lot Doesn’t Sit Right With Me.How does it feel to make police TV in 2020?
  25. backstories
    The National Book Critics Circle Has ImplodedMore than half of the board has resigned in a series of events one member described as “bizarre and bloody in an end-of-a-Tarantino-movie way.”
  26. a long talk
    ‘If You Can Perform Whiteness, Then What Does It Mean to Be White?’Brit Bennett on her propulsive new novel, The Vanishing Half, set in a mythical town solely inhabited by light-skinned black people.
  27. profile
    The Lines We Cross for ArtJosephine Decker on Shirley, her years working with Joe Swanberg in the mumblecore scene, and the boundaries between director and actor.
  28. summer 2020
    29 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This SummerThey will shake you out of your stasis.
  29. encounter
    The Psychic Will (Virtually) See You NowLaura Day joins the growing ranks of healers delivering their services via teleconferencing.
  30. friday night movie club
    You Can’t Say American Psycho Didn’t Warn UsPatrick Bateman told us in the starkest terms that we were living in a world of murderous greed and indifference.
  31. in conversation
    Mary Harron on the Bizarre Legacy of American Psycho20 years on, the director discusses almost losing the movie, fighting to cast Christian Bale, and why its original reception reminds her of Joker’s.
  32. backstories
    The Man Who Knew Too MuchThe plot of Lawrence Wright’s new novel was always prescient, but it arrived much sooner than he thought it would.
  33. coronavirus
    As N.Y.’s Indie Bookstores Close Their Doors, They Search for Community Online“People are just trying to maintain a connection to the world until it opens up again.”
  34. book drama
    My Dark Vanessa Was an Oprah’s Book Club Pick. Then It Was Abruptly Dropped.After controversies surrounding American Dirt and My Dark Vanessa, Oprah’s team decided they would not be moving forward with the book.
  35. sexcerpt
    The Best Sex I’ve Ever Read: The Famously ‘Dick-Centric’ Henry MillerIn which the author praises someone’s vagina.
  36. profile
    My Dark Vanessa Is Not a Love StoryAt 16, Kate Elizabeth Russell saw her book about a student’s affair with a teacher as a romance. She sees it differently now.
  37. backstories
    How Nic Cage and a Ouija Board Brought Richard Stanley Back to SetTwenty-five years after the spectacular failure of The Island of Dr. Moreau, the reclusive director is still dreaming of human-animal hybrids.
  38. scene report
    ‘We Stand With Alexandra Waterbury’: Inside a West Side Story ProtestAbout two dozen people showed up on Friday to voice their disapproval over the casting of Amar Ramasar.
  39. the industry
    Reagan Arthur Succeeds Sonny Mehta As Publisher of KnopfArthur is universally admired in publishing circles, and like Mehta, she has an eye for both fiction and nonfiction, commercial and highbrow.
  40. coming attractions
    32 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2020The return of Elena Ferrante and a Me Too narrative unlike any you’ve read before.
  41. backstories
    Love, Actually: How You Season Two Made Joe’s Perfect MatchThe showrunner of Netflix’s demented stalker romance breaks down the many secrets of Love Quinn.
  42. chat room
    Kate Moennig Tried to Rewatch The L Word Before Doing Generation Q. She Failed.“It’s hard to watch yourself with that hair and those outfits and see you clunking around trying to figure out how to act.”
  43. literary greats
    Celebrating Toni Morrison With Thousands of Her ReadersMore than 3,000 people came to St. John the Divine to hear eulogies from Oprah, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and others.
  44. ya twitter
    Famous Authors Drag Student in Surreal YA Twitter ControversyBy Saturday afternoon, many of the authors involved had apologized.
  45. the politics of fiction
    Who Gave You the Right to Tell That Story?Ten authors on the most divisive question in fiction, and the times they wrote outside their own identities.
  46. as told tos
    How to Write Hercule Poirot in 2019Author Sophie Hannah on continuing Agatha Christie’s classic series — and why the detective definitely shouldn’t have a Twitter account.
  47. profile
    Andrea Long Chu Wants MoreThe 26-year-old critic argues for a new understanding of gender and desire in her debut book, Females.
  48. true crime
    How Unbelievable Tells a True Crime Story Without ‘Rape Porn’The showrunner of Netflix’s new drama turned a Pulitzer-winning investigation into propulsive and essential TV.
  49. fall preview 2019
    Carmen Maria Machado’s Emotional ExorcismThe author follows up her debut story collection with a memoir of abuse that dances between genres.
  50. publishing drama
    Around 800 Copies of Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale Sequel Got Sent Out Early“Good news!” read a note sent to some customers. “We’re able to get part of your order to you sooner than we originally promised.”
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