The Pulitzer Prize–Winning Critic Leaves a Lasting Mark on Journalism and Culture
Robin Givhan, the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and senior critic-at-large for The Washington Post, is stepping away from the publication after accepting a buyout—marking the end of a landmark 25-year affiliation with the paper.
She is among more than 30 staffers who have taken buyouts from the Jeff Bezos–owned media company. Givhan announced her decision on social media, noting that longtime employees were recently offered voluntary exit packages. “Having never been eligible ‘for such a thing,’” she wrote, “I considered it. (It was for a fair amount of $$.) I agonized about it. I fretted. I procrastinated until the last possible moment. I considered my needs, my desires, my beliefs. A creature of deadline to the end. And I decided to take it.”
“Afterwards, I needed to quietly sit with my decision. Because I love The Post. It’s where I grew up as a journalist,” she continued.
Givhan joined The Washington Post in 1995 as fashion editor and rejoined in 2014 after a stint at Newsweek. In 2006, she became the first fashion writer ever awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. She expanded her role at The Post in 2020, becoming senior critic-at-large and broadening her lens to culture and politics. Her writing—unflinching, eloquent, and culturally attuned—earned her a wide readership far beyond the fashion sphere.
Reflecting on her departure, Givhan added, “I am a believer in the importance of institutions, of legacy media and mainstream media. There’s still a lot to be said and I’m just self-centered enough to believe I’m someone who needs to be heard. So I’m not done.”
She closed her post with a signature bit of clarity and conviction: “Democracy definitely dies in darkness. It is greatly wounded by silence.”
While she hasn’t announced her next move, Givhan is currently on a book tour promoting Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh, with stops in New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Milan, and more—plus, as she noted, a guest bathroom renovation.
She may be leaving The Post, but her voice will continue to shape the conversation.