About

Jess McHugh is a writer and editor who has reported from North and South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and West Africa.

Her work has appeared in The Nation, The Paris Review, TIME.com, Village Voice, International Business Times, CNN, AFP Services, The Believer, Smithsonian Magazine, Business Insider, InStyle, DAME, Man Repeller, and Travel + Leisure, among others.

She has written hundreds of stories with an eye on the intersection between politics, culture, and society, ranging from the fight to preserve world heritage in Palmyra, Syria, to the plight of pregnant refugees making the journey across Europe. She has interviewed U.N. diplomats, U.S. senators, and former members of the Irish Republican Army.

Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, she was sent to cover the aftermath on the ground as a reporter for International Business Times. After sending dispatches from the Saint Denis raids, she attended one of the first concerts in the wake of the attacks, writing features on the recovery of the music scene as well as a profile of a Syrian refugee.

She is bilingual in French, decent at krav maga, and excellent at knitting.

Selected Writing

The Paris Review

The Nationalist Roots of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary

Nearly two centuries later, at a time when truth is increasingly undervalued and American exceptionalism is widely embraced, the dictionary takes on fresh significance.

The Nation

Arkansas execution of Ledell Lee Why Is Arkansas Rushing to Execute Its Prisoners?

It’s a strange twist in America’s long relationship with the death penalty—and pressure from the pharmaceutical companies explains why Arkansas is going through a barbaric rush to execute as many death row prisoners as possible before there are no more drugs left.

International Business Times

pregnant refugee Refugee Women Are Carrying More Than An Uncertain Future

For the first time since the refugee crisis began in the spring of 2015, women and children now account for more than half of all asylum-seekers in Europe.

Travel + Leisure

Palmyra: How a Beloved World Heritage Site Became a Battlefield

“It really is a site of all of humanity. This is one of the reasons it was put on the world heritage list: because it has traces of different cultures,” said Mechtild Rössler of UNESCO. “It contains one of the ruins of one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world.”

Punk fans in the audience crowd over the front of the stage and play air guitar as Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone of The Ramones perform at Eric's club, Liverpool, 19 May 1977. Inside the Fight to Keep Liverpool's Punk Scene Alive

For that Friday night at least, the punks and the DIY-ers had a place of belonging in Maguire’s, and the obstacles concerning the future — including gentrification and the closure of some of their best-loved clubs — didn’t weigh down the atmosphere.