I subscribe to other people's newsletters like it's my job. Because it is. As this year of Peak Newsletter comes to an end (or was that 2020?), I want to share the ones I always read. Here they are by category, each with a bonus podcast rec:

Best Pop Culture: Hung Up by Hunter Harris
It's hard to convey the joy that Hunter's newsletter brings me. From her public-service journalism about Martin Scorsese's glasses to her hard-hitting analysis of the Most Divorced Man in Hollywood, I always read. No skips.

• Runner up: I <3 Mess by Emily Kirkpatrick is a more recent addition to my inbox, bringing a welcome fashion-centric take on celebrity snark. 
• Podcast pairing: Like a Virgin, Fran Tirado and Rose Dommu's new show about all things cultural, new and old. If you might enjoy listening to someone describe Dune as a movie "about a space twink who everyone wants to fuck," I suggest you subscribe.

Best Essays: Sweater Weather by Brandon Taylor
These beautiful pieces of writing always start in one place and end up somewhere unexpected. Brandon's newsletters have an off-the-cuff ease and fluidity to them, yet the payoff is always there. Never a thread left dangling. They're worth every minute I spend with them.

• Runner up: Two Nouns by Dayo Olopade, who connects the dots on culture, global politics, literature, economics, and everything in between. Her newsletter arrives sporadically so it always feels like a surprise visit. 
• Podcast pairing: Anthems—short essays in audio form, each on a different theme.

Best 5 Minute Read: Pome by Matthew Ogle
Some days, the only newsletters I have time for are the ones I know will only take me a few minutes to absorb. Matthew Ogle's short, curated poetry never disappoints.

• Runner up: Edith Zimmerman's comics are small and specific, and I mean that as the greatest compliment. 
• Podcast pairing: Field Recordings, tiny ambient audio snippets from different places around the world.

Best Parenting: Evil Witches by Claire Zulkey
I don't have kids, so why do I find myself reading every single edition of Evil Witches? I think it's because so many of my friends are parents, and reading Claire's work (and the curated replies of her readers) feels like hanging out with those friends. It's smart and kind and makes me laugh.

• Runner up: Evie Ebert's Everything Happened has that old-time bloggy, diaristic feel, and I mean that as a compliment! 
• Podcast pairing: Relative Fiction by Nicole Georges. Ok, it's not parenting per se, but is IS about parent-child relationships. This show is a six-episode arc about Nicole's search for the truth about her father, and it's a wild story.  

Best Inbox Magazine: The Audacity by Roxane Gay
What is a magazine? A collective of writers and editors and designers who share a sensibility. So yes, a newsletter can be a magazine. I've loved reading along as Roxane Gay commissions and edits pieces from emerging writers, whose voices I often go on to follow across the internet. What an incredible use of her platform.

• Runner up: Dirt, which covers digital culture with the same vigor that legacy media bring to book reviews and movie criticism, is fresh and necessary. 
• Podcast pairing: The 11th. Releasing small collections of episodes every month—with no singular host—just screams "magazine" to me.

Best Lifestyle: A Thing or Two by Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo
What I mean by "lifestyle" is "no headline news, no depressing stuff." Which is to say: this is a category for fun distractions, beauty, design, and things that make me click "add to cart" (though I may or may not actually check out). Claire and Erica are such thoughtful curators. If you've ever received a nice gift from me, they are probably due some credit.

• Runner up: Some Things by Ngaio Parr, who is is good at finding sparkling gems in places I hadn't thought to look.
• Podcast pairings: Poog, which is more about sending up the lifestyle/wellness genre than advancing it. And Maintenance Phase, which is the serious journalistic version.

Best Interviews: Oldster Magazine by Sari Botton
I love the Q&As in Oldster, in which people of various ages discuss how they feel about getting older. These interviews always manage to be both short and snappy while also surprisingly deep.

• Runner up: Culture Study by Anne Helen Petersen. Sure, you could open a JSTOR account and read some academic papers. Orrrr you could just read AHP's excellent interviews with academics (and ex-academics), which are my favorite thing she publishes.
• Podcast pairing: Queery. I love the intimacy of Cameron Esposito's show.

Best Advice: Ask Polly/Molly by Heather Havrilesky
Oh, the excess of sending two distinct newsletters! But it makes sense that Heather separated Polly and Molly. Polly is the advice-giver, the mainstream twin, the one who has something helpful to offer to readers wrestling with existential crises. And Molly is the voice burbling underneath, the intense and spiritual twin whose depth is what makes Polly's advice so good. They are a great pair.

• Runner up: Saeed Jones's newsletter is back. He has been taking reader questions lately, and the answers are just great.
• Podcast pairing: On Am I Normal? Mona Chalabi looks for life advice in hard data, and usually doesn't find it. But the ride is a lot of fun.

Best Creativity: Nicole Donut by Nichole Zhu
I find myself saving so many quotes from Nicole's dispatches on the writing life. It's short, friendly, and always motivational.

• Runner up: Mason Currey's Subtle Maneuvers is full of fascinating tidbits from the lives of creative people, and always sends me down at least one rabbit hole.
• Podcast pairing: First Draft with Sarah Enni, for more writers-on-writing goodness.

The Report Spam and Unsubscribe Award: Puck News
If your welcome email begins with "thanks for signing up," you should only be sending it to people who actually signed up. Especially if you send a half-dozen emails per week and make it difficult to unsubscribe from them all with one click. Sorry to name names, but this is bad behavior! Consent is key, my fellow newsletter-ers.


The Curators' Curator Award: Today in Tabs by Rusty Foster
A deep personal thank you to Rusty & Co. for enabling me to ignore the media-industry gossip and toilet-bowl swirl of endless takes on Twitter. I'll take the Tabs daily summary over the real-time feed any day. This is an invaluable service in an era when being on social media mostly makes me feel like garbage.


Thanks for attending the first annual Inbox Awards. We may do this again next year, depending on how many people are still sending newsletters. Either way, this particular newsletter will be back to its standard format next week.

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