Try GOLD - Free

1,960 minutes with …Isaac Fitzgerald

New York magazine

|

August 30 - September 12, 2021

A pilgrimage with the most gregarious member of the literary internet.

- By Robert Moor

1,960 minutes with …Isaac Fitzgerald

The writer Isaac Fitzgerald was walking across a parking lot one day this summer when he looked up to find an airplane falling out of the sky. “Jesus fucking Christ!” he cried. (“Excuse my language,” he added primly.) It was a small blue propeller plane, but in that moment it most resembled a leaf tumbling end over end. After a sickening interval—that moment when vastly divergent futures have yet to fork—the stunt plane finally righted itself. It flew onward. Then it began a yet-more tortuous series of swoops and twists.

It was an apt metaphor for the year he, and many of us, had just lived through: unpredictable, surreal, plunging, soaring. As an essayist and editor, Fitzgerald had long served as a kind of genial barkeep of the literary internet— an avuncular, boozy presence with killer taste in books. In the past 18 months, that reputation had only grown: Fitzgerald had published a best-selling children’s book, finished an essay collection, and maintained a semi-regular book recommendation segment on the Today show. But he had also experienced a painful breakup with his fiancée, the writer Alice Sola Kim, and survived a plague.

Last summer, prompted by a health alert from his iPhone about how sedentary he was becoming, Fitzgerald set himself the goal of walking 20,000 steps, or roughly ten miles, a day. (Fitzgerald, who has no kids and has lowered his cost of living in order to be what he calls a “time millionaire,” could afford this luxury.) It worked wonders. His mind felt sharper. His body changed shape in ways that pleased him. His world widened, and the pall of the pandemic seemed to lift.

MORE STORIES FROM New York magazine

New York magazine

New York magazine

The Uncanceling of Chris Brown

The singer claims he's been overlooked, but his blockbuster stadium tour suggests otherwise.

time to read

6 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

Who Speaks for Wendy Williams?

TRAPPED IN A HIGH-END DEMENTIA FACILITY, THE FORMER TALK-SHOW HOST IS CAMPAIGNING FOR FREEDOM. IT MAY NOT MATTER.

time to read

29 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

How does a luxury brand like Prada sell desire to a public inundated with beautiful images? It hires Ferdinando Verderi.

The Man Who Translates Fashion

time to read

15 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

The City Politic: Errol Louis

Eric Adams believes he can rewrite his legacy. His record says otherwise.

time to read

5 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

The Home Gallery

A young couple with a growing art collection reimagines a penthouse loft in Soho.

time to read

1 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

THE TECHNO OPTIMIST'S GUIDE TO FUTURE-PROOFING YOUR CHILD

AI doomers and bloomers alike are girding themselves for what's coming-starting with their offspring.

time to read

23 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

Among the Chairs and a Half

My exhaustive search had three criteria: The chair had to be roomy, comfortable, and nontoxic.

time to read

3 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

He's Opening a Gourmet Grocer in Tribeca. Maybe You've Heard?

Meadow Lane is ready at last. It only took six years and 685 TikToks to get here.

time to read

2 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

Neighborhood News: The Kimmel Resistance Comes to Fort Greene

Unlikely free-speech warrior broadcasts from BAM.

time to read

1 mins

October 6-19, 2025

New York magazine

New York magazine

Harris Dickinson Won't Be Your Heartthrob

The actor's feature-length directorial debut is a dark look at homelessness, but don't call him a do-gooder.

time to read

8 mins

October 6-19, 2025

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size