Linda Perlstein

Linda was the first curator of the Amazon Books bricks-and-mortar bookstore chain and managed the nonfiction and lifestyle book selection. Before that she was a freelance book editor and a consultant to several nonprofits and foundations in the fields of K-12 and higher education. She worked at The Washington Post from 1994 to 2004, as a copy editor, graphics editor, and, for most of those years, a staff writer covering education. She is the author of Not Much Just Chillin': The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers and Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade.

From 2008 to 2011, Linda was the Education Writers Association’s first public editor. More than 400 education reporters came to Linda for coaching, and she wrote the Educated Reporter blog. Linda has also written for the Washington Post op-ed page, the New York Times Book Review, Newsweek, Slate, Salon, The Nation, American Prospect, Columbia Journalism Review, and Parents. She has been interviewed on “All Things Considered,” “This American Life,” MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News.

A Milwaukee native, Linda received a bachelor's from Wesleyan University and a master's in international affairs from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and son in Seattle.