Tarpley Hitt is a writer and the online editor of The Paris Review. She was an an editor at The Drift magazine from its founding in 2020 until 2026. From 2021 until it was shut down again in 2023, she blogged for the Gawker reboot. Before that, she covered culture and money for The Daily Beast. Her work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Bookforum, The Paris Review, The Guardian, The New York Times, Air Mail, Deseret, and Miami New Times.

Her first book, BARBIELAND: The Unauthorized History, came out in December 2025 from Simon & Schuster’s One Signal imprint. The New York Times called it “rollicking.” Amazon named it a “Best Book of the Month” and an “Editors’ Pick.” Slate published an excerpt about doll genitalia here. The Nation published another about Nazi toy makers here. You can order it here.