A Conversation with New Yorker Cartoon Editor Emma Allen
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Saran is concentrating her monthly Substack newsletter this year on The New Yorker and recently it involved interviewing Emma Allen the New Yorker cartoon editor for the past eight years.
The introduction to Saran Wrapped Letters inteview with Emma Allen:
I am thrilled that Allen took the time to answer my questions so thoughtfully, despite the fact that at least a thousand to fifteen-hundred cartoons land in her inbox every Tuesday. (And as it happened, I also reached out to her on a Tuesday).
We talked about the editorial process of selecting cartoons for The New Yorker, what makes a cartoon stand out, how she came to pursue this career path, and a recent cartoon that made her crack up.
How do you see the role of cartoons evolving in the current media landscape?
I think cartoons are more popular than ever, and that platforms like Instagram and Substack allow people to get their work out there without having to go through any traditional gatekeepers. That’s the plus side, but the downside is that, in 2025, there just aren’t that many paying venues for the single-panel gag cartoon. Cartoonists used to be able to take their weekly batch of drawings around to all sorts of print publications and sell everything they’d drawn and pay off their mortgages. It’s nearly impossible to just be a full-time single-panel cartoonist now. So, while cartoons remain beloved, cartoonists have to find creative ways to hustle to be able to keep cartooning.
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