Whitney Mallett

Whitney Mallett is an American writer, editor, and publisher based in New York City. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Whitney Review of New Writing, a biannual broadsheet known for short-form criticism, intergenerational conversations and interviews, and cross-disciplinary literary events.^[1][2] Mallett is the co-editor of Barbie Dreamhouse: An Architectural Survey and author of Smutburger's Deliverance.^[3] Her writing has appeared in publications such as Architectural Digest, Artforum, BOMB, Cultured, Document Journal, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Paper, PIN-UP, amongst others, and she previously co-ran the feminist arts platform Topical Cream.^[4][5][6]

Mallett was born in Mississauga, Ontario and grew up in Calgary.^[7] She studied at McGill University, where she wrote for the school's newspaper. Afterward, she moved to New York and received an MFA in Documentary Filmmaking from New York University.^[7]

Mallett's writing spans criticism, interviews, and cultural reporting for outlets including PIN-UP and The New York Times.

In 2022, she released her first novella, the erotica book, Deliverance, published by Smutburger.^[8]

Later that year, Barbie Dreamhouse: An Architectural Survey (Mattel Creations, 2022) was released. The book is a limited-run art book co-published by PIN–UP and Mattel in celebration of the Barbie Dreamhouse's 60-year anniversary. The 151-page monograph follows Barbie's Dreamhouses across six iterations, including furnishings and architectural blueprints. It was co-authored by Felix Burrichter, Whitney Mallett, and Ben Ganz.

In a 2023 Interview feature published a few days before the Review’s first launch, she discussed reviving concise, idea-driven book criticism alongside the author Lynne Tillman.

Mallett launched The Whitney Review of New Writing in 2023 as a broadsheet “lit-crit newspaper” emphasizing sub-1,000-word reviews, interviews, and essays.

The Review’s events have become notable convenings across art and fashion venues in New York. In January 2023, office magazine documented the Review’s Poetry Night at Blade Study gallery tied to the exhibition on view, Epiphany.^[9] In November 2024, Performance Space New York hosted LIBRARY, a one-night program “organized by The Whitney Review."^[10]

In May 2025, The Whitney Review partnered with the Upper East Side gallery Fleiss-Vallois for Experience of Vastness, a panel with poet Ariana Reines, writer/performer Alex Auder, and perfumer Marissa Zappas.^[11]

Coverage has described Mallett’s editorial sensibility as “iconoclastic” and “subversively glamorous,” situating the Review as a lively alternative to legacy book-review formats and a hub for downtown literary culture.^[12][11][13]