Cheri Lucas Rowlands

Senior Editor at Longreads

Cheri Lucas Rowlands is a founding editor at Automattic and has worked on Longreads since 2014. Stories she’s edited have won ASJA Awards and a Pushcart Prize, been named a James Beard Award finalist, and received notable mentions in Best American Essays and The Best Women’s Travel Writing. Writers have landed agents and book deals from pieces they’ve worked on with Cheri. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College and lives in California.

She reads and edits stories across all subjects, and especially enjoys essays about the internet and technology that remind us of our shared humanity, pieces exploring identity, place, and home, and deep dives into your obsessions. She is drawn to personal essays carried by a unique voice, and loves collaborating with writers on reported essays with strong personal narratives. She loves fresh, unexpected, and quirky, and right now wants to publish work that brings joy and delight.

Please submit polished drafts for personal essays and detailed pitches for reported stories that show a specific angle into your subject. To get a sense of what Cheri reads and edits, browse these editors’ picks and original features she’s commissioned or written over the years.