Dear Prudence (advice column)

Dear Prudence is an advice column appearing several times weekly in the online magazine Slate and syndicated to over 200 newspapers.

History

Herbert Stein

The column was initiated on 20 December 1997. "Prudence" was a pseudonym, and the author's true identity was not revealed at the time. Slate's archive currently indicates that the author of those first columns was Herbert Stein. Stein ceased writing the column after three months and the column went on hiatus.

Margo Howard

In mid-March 1998, the column returned, with the explanation that "Prudence" had not come back from her "needlework"—per the explanation offered in Stein's last column—but rather had convinced her daughter and namesake to continue her work. While similarly anonymous at first, the new author of the column was eventually revealed to be Margo Howard,^[1] the daughter of Esther Lederer, a.k.a. Ann Landers.

Howard maintained the column for nearly eight years. Her last Dear Prudence column appeared in Slate on 2 February 2006. Howard then had a Creators Syndicate advice column called "Dear Margo", whose run ended on Friday, 10 May 2013.^[2]

Emily Yoffe

On 9 February 2006,^[3] Dear Prudence was taken over by Slate staffer Emily Yoffe. Beginning in the summer of 2007, when Slate video magazine Slate V was launched, Yoffe also appeared in short, videorecorded Dear Prudence clips, illustrated with animations.

Daniel M. Lavery

In November 2015, Daniel M. Lavery, writer and co-founder of The Toast, took up the "Prudence" role from Yoffe,^[4] but wrote as Mallory Ortberg until April 2018.^[5] In June 2016, Slate launched the "Dear Prudence" podcast to accompany the column.^[6] Lavery, usually accompanied by one or two guests, discusses and responds to additional letters in weekly episodes.

Lavery moved on from the role in May 2021.

Jenée Desmond-Harris

Jenée Desmond-Harris hosts a discussion at the San Francisco Public Library in 2019

Writer and New York Times Opinion Editor Jenée Desmond-Harris took over the column starting June 3, 2021.^[7] R. Eric Thomas took over during Desmond-Harris' parental leave in spring and summer 2022.

Cultural reference

The title of the column is a reference to the Beatles song "Dear Prudence".

References

1. Rick Kogan, "Women Of Letters: Pauline And Jeanne Phillips (dear Abby). Eppie Lederer (ann Landers). And Now Margo Howard (dear Prudence). In This Family, The 'Advice Gene' Clearly Is Dominant", Chicago Tribune, April 1, 2001.
2. "PureWow: Women's Fashion, Beauty, Life Hacks & Recipes". www.wowowow.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
3. Interactive, Washingtonpost.Newsweek. "Emily Yoffe Becomes The New Voice Behind Slate's 'Dear Prudence'". www.prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
4. Turner, Julia (November 9, 2015). "Meet Our New Dear Prudence Columnist". Slate. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
5. "Help! My Friends' Triumphs Make Me Feel Like I'm Falling Behind in Life". Slate. April 24, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
6. "Coming Soon: Dear Prudence". Stitcher. Slate. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
7. "Jenée Desmond-Harris Takes over as Slate's Dear Prudence Columnist". Slate. 3 June 2021.

External links

• Dear Prudence archive at Slate