The Atlantic announces Christine Emba and Thomas Chatterton Williams as staff writers, and Robert Worth as a contributing writer

Christine Emba

The journalists Christine Emba and Thomas Chatterton Williams will join The Atlantic as staff writers, and Robert Worth is becoming a contributing writer, editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg has announced.

Emba joins from The Washington Post, where she was most recently a columnist and a member of the Editorial Board. Williams joins staff this week after several years as a contributing writer; in the past year, he’s written about defining wokeism, against smelling weed in public, and profiled the artist Chase Hall. Worth has written periodically for The Atlantic since 1995, most recently investigating the bizarre story behind Shinzo Abe’s assassination for the October 2023 issue.

Below is Goldberg’s note to staff:

Dear everyone,

I’m writing to share some excellent news about three extraordinary journalists.

First, I’m very pleased to let you know that Christine Emba is joining our team as a staff writer. Christine is a brilliant writer and sharp observer of the complexities and absurdities of modern life and culture. She has written memorably about relationships, masculinity, sex, race, wealth, and much more. She comes to us from The Washington Post, where she has most recently served as a columnist and a member of the Editorial Board. Before that she worked as a criticism fellow at the New Criterion and as a deputy editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, focusing on technology and innovation. She is also the author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation.

Next, we’re delighted to share that Robert Worth is joining The Atlantic as a contributing writer. Many of you are already familiar with his outstanding work for The Atlantic. Bobby is a terrifically talented and ambitious reporter with deep experience across a wide range of topics. His article, “The Bizarre Story Behind Shinzo Abe’s Assassination” for our October issue, was one of the most fascinating pieces we published last year, and he’s written periodically for us about numerous topics, going back to 1995. Most recently, he’s been a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, reporting from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. He is also the former Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times and the author of A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, From Tahrir Square to ISIS, which won the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize.

Finally, we are happy to let you know that our contributing writer Thomas Chatterton Williams has agreed to become a staff writer. Thomas is a long-time contributor to our pages who has fantastically varied interests — he’s written fascinating and highly original pieces on everything from “le wokism,” to how the French do Christmas, to the people who dislike reading, to his profile of Chase Hall.

Please join us in celebrating this excellent news with Christine, Bobby, and Thomas.