Stefanie Peters

Writer and editor in NYC, where I work for Library of America.

At Library of America, I've had the joy of working with writers including Wendell Berry, Ursula K. Le Guin, Sarah Ruden, Ernest Gaines, Louisa May Alcott, Jonathan Edwards, William Faulkner, Madeleine L’Engle, and Edith Wharton.

Upcoming speaking engagements:

September 11: "Neighbors to the Land and Each Other: Wendell Berry's Vision of 'Membership'"

Lancaster, PA: The Row House Forum

October 10: "Editing Wendell Berry: The Past and the Future of the Port William Novels & Stories"

Franklin, TN: The Rabbit Room's Annual Hutchmoot Conference

Past speaking engagements:

July 31, 2026: "Preserving America's Literature for the Next 250 Years"

Mount Gretna, PA: Chautauqua Trail Annual Meeting

November 2024: "Preserving American Literature for the Ages"

Lancaster, PA: The Row House Forum

Essays

Substack: Stefanie Peters

Essays on what books do, and why we should read more over at Substack.

Editing Wendell Berry

When asked what it looks like to be an editor at the nonprofit publisher Library of America, I often say two things: first, that my job is as much research as it is editing, and second (with tongue in cheek), that most of the writers I edit are dead. There have been a handful of exceptions to this, one of whom is Wendell Berry.

Tell It Again: On Rewriting Shakespeare

Why do we return again and again to Shakespeare’s plays, why do we keep rewriting them? Is it in hope that some of his genius will rub off? Are we searching for new possibilities for interpretation, hoping to mine new ore out of well covered ground? Or are we going toe-to-toe, trying our strength against the acknowledged genius of English literature?

450 Years of Juliets: On Women Making Shakespeare

The history of women interacting with Shakespeare's plays is also the history of women's rights, suffrage, and of the feminist movement. Shakespeare has been, and is, an uneasy ally.

The Writing of 'Hand D': On Shakespeare's Collaborative Career

Why would Shakespeare involve himself in trying to patch up a play already rejected by Tilney for containing dangerous material, and not only be involved, but agree to write one of the stickiest scenes in the play? It certainly challenges popular conceptions of Shakespeare.

Found (Again): Shakespeare's Lost Play Double Falsehood

William Shakespeare hasn’t had a new play since 1612. But Arden—one of the most respected publishers of scholarly editions of Shakespeare’s plays—published a “new” play by Shakespeare, edited by Brean Hammond: Double Falsehood, a play that has been lost and found and lost again.