The year in Drift events
2025 off the page
For a long time — more than a year, in some cases — I knew some of my Drift colleagues only on Zoom. That’s what happens when you launch a magazine in June 2020. It was momentous for all of us when we finally hosted our first big issue launch in the spring of 2022. We had no idea just how much our parties would strike a chord. It turned out that a place to meet like-minded people, with no barrier to entry besides a subscription or an issue purchase (and sometimes a line, for which we apologize) was exactly what so many of us needed. Many issue launch parties later, I’ve lost count of the times someone has told me they made a friend, met a crush, pitched an idea, or made a connection that wouldn’t have happened anywhere else. A magazine is composed of texts and images, but it is also a community — and we think ours is extraordinarily special. That’s why, in the lead-up to our fifth anniversary, we decided to branch out into other kinds of events and public programming.
What’s been fun for me, when planning these events, is having the opportunity to translate elements of our editorial philosophy into real life. While our essays strive to make sharp interventions in the discourse, events offer the chance to work out ideas in real time, as we did with our panel reflecting on widespread anxiety over the decline of X (formerly Twitter), which sold out 200+ tickets in under three hours. We also hosted not one but three launch events for debut books by our editors and contributors, which makes us feel a little like proud parents. And we’ve tried to create a space for shared enthusiasms, whether it was finally convening our wonderful U.K. community or gathering superfans of a Danish literary sensation. Reading and writing have always been solitary vocations, and that’s especially true in our precarious age. Every one of these events still feels, to us, like lightning in a bottle.
Make Your Own Job book launch, January 2025: In between writing and editing for The Drift since 2020, historian Erik Baker found time to write his first book, a sweeping history of the entrepreneurial work ethic in America from the late nineteenth century to the present. Drift coeditor Rebecca Panovka helped launch his book last winter at P&T Knitwear in Manhattan, and two months later, Erik helped launch this Substack.
“What Was Twitter?” panel, April 2025: NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute hosted us and some of our favorite posters — Willy Staley of the New York Times Magazine, Know Your Enemy cohost Sam Adler-Bell, Deez Links author Delia Cai, and The Tech Bubble author Edward Ongweso Jr. — for a spirited discussion hosted by New York Times Magazine editor and former Drift associate editor Elena Saavedra Buckley. We published an edited transcript of the conversation here, and were picked up by the New York Times.
Poetry night at Karma Gallery, May 2025: We convened three brilliant poets published in our pages — Sasha Debevec-McKenney, Grace Nissan, and Benjamin Krusling — in the East Village for a reading and conversation, moderated by our poetry editor, Zoë Hitzig.
When it All Burns book launch, May 2025: Anthropologist and firefighter Jordan Thomas wrote an unforgettable report from the California fireline for Issue Two of The Drift, which he eventually developed into his debut, When It All Burns. We helped launch his book with The New Republic’s Kate Aronoff; a few months later, it was a finalist for this year’s National Book Award for Nonfiction. Revisit our Q&A with Thomas here.
The Drift in London, July 2025: We threw our inaugural party across the pond, where we were thrilled to gather many of our UK-based contributors and readers. We’d love to host more events outside of New York, so drop us a line if you’d like to see The Drift come to your city.
On the Calculation of Volume III book launch, November 2025: Not only were we lucky enough to publish an excerpt from Solvej Balle’s hit septology in our summer issue, we also got to cohost (alongside publisher New Directions) the third installment’s launch event on November 18th, the day on which the series’s time loop is stuck. My Drift colleague Zain Khalid and I were joined by writers Rob Franklin and Sloane Crosley at McNally Jackson Seaport, and Balle answered questions in writing from the island of Ærø — read them here.
Barbieland book launch, November 2025: Last but not least, Drift editor and contributor Tarpley Hitt — who helms our “Mentions” section — just published her first book, a history that the New York Times called “rollicking” and “propulsive.” Rebecca and contributor Sophie Haigney spoke to Tarpley during publication week about collections, lawsuits, defense contractors, and more.
We’re very grateful to all who showed up, tuned in for, or otherwise supported these conversations, books, and celebrations. But we’re just getting started, so we’d love to hear from you about what kind of programming you’d like to see next year. Let us know in the comments!
And we’re only able to plan and execute these events, with our tiny team and shoestring budget, thanks to the generosity of our readers. To help keep our in-person programming going strong in 2026 and beyond, please consider making a donation today. Hope to see many of you next year!
Sincerely,
Krithika Varagur
Associate Editor
The Drift is supported by its readers. Your subscription or donation will help us continue to pay our writers and artists and grow our magazine. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so donations are tax-deductible.
Image credit: Carina Imbornone
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