(Amherst, MA—February 21, 2022)—The Common, Amherst College’s award-winning literary
magazine, announces the addition of three new members to its Board of Directors: Kate Nintzel,
Lee Oglesby and Tara Safronoff. Willie Perdomo, The Common’s former Interviews Editor, will
join the magazine’s Editorial Board.
Clockwise from left: Kate Nintzel, Lee Oglesby, Willlie Perdomo, Tara Safronoff
Katherine Nintzel is Executive Editor at Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Mariner
Books unite HMH’s venerable trade division and HarperCollins’s acclaimed Custom House line
to form a destination imprint for authors of outstanding fiction and nonfiction. A member of
Amherst College’s class of 2002, Nintzel’s projects include NBCC nominees, NYT Notable
books, and bestsellers that have sold millions of copies.
Lee Oglesby is Senior Editor at Flatiron Books, a division of Macmillan. Writers she has
published include New York Times best-selling authors Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Robin Wall
Kimmerer and National Book Critics Circle Award winner Ada Limón. Oglesby’s previous
experience includes positions at Milkweed Editions, Oxford University Press, and some of New
York City’s most respected literary agencies. She is a graduate of Amherst College (2011) and
the Columbia Publishing Course.
Tara Safronoff is co-founder of Astra Nova School, an experimental online school, as well as its
director of English. Previously, she served as Director of English at Ad Astra, an experimental
school located at the SpaceX campus and Astra Nova’s predecessor. She studied English at
Amherst College, from which she graduated in 1997. Safronoff also holds an MA in English and
Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
Willie Perdomo was recently named the New York State Poet for 2021-23. Among other honors,
he is the winner of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, the
New York City Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN Open Book Award. His books include
Smoking Lovely: The Remix (Haymarket Books, 2021), The Crazy Bunch (Penguin Random
House, 2019), The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (Penguin Random House, 2014), and Where
a Nickel Costs a Dime (W. W. Norton, 1996). A contributor to Issue 16 of The Common, he
joined the magazine’s editorial staff as the Interviews Editor in December 2020.
“We are thrilled to have Kate, Lee, and Tara bring their diverse wealth of editorial and
educational experience to The Common’s Board of Directors, and for Willie to deepen his
involvement with us,” says editor in chief Jennifer Acker. “The organization will benefit greatly
from the energies and insights of these dynamic individuals.”
A full list of The Common’s Board of Directors and Editorial Board can be found at
https://www.thecommononline.org/about/.
An award-winning print and digital literary journal published biannually, The Common features
global literature with a strong sense of place. Based at Amherst College, the magazine is a joint
venture between the College and The Common Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The Common
also runs the Literary Publishing Internship at Amherst College, mentoring students in all
aspects of literary publishing, The Common Young Writers Program for high school students,
and regular public programming, including LitFest. In 2019, The Common won a Whiting Literary
Magazine Prize.
