Paul Morris Named Publisher at 'Lapham's Quarterly'

Paul W. Morris has been named publisher of Lapham's Quarterly​ and executive director of the American Agora Foundation, which publishes the magazine. Morris previously served as general manager of the arts magazine BOMB, director of literary programs at the PEN American Center, v-p of the Authors Guild, and most recently, executive director of the House of SpeakEasy Foundation. He sits on advisory committees for the National Book Foundation, the Brooklyn Book Festival, LitNet, and Lit Crawl NYC.

Morris will be the first person to hold the role of executive director at the American Agora Foundation, taking over executive responsibilities from founder Lewis H. Lapham, who remains editor of Lapham’s Quarterly and president of the foundation. In addition to publishing the Quarterly, the foundation runs a number of initiatives, including an incarcerated-readers program that distributes the magazine to jails and prisons; an education program that creates curricular materials for K–12 schools and community colleges nationwide; and a public events series in New York City. 

“Paul’s willingness to direct the theater of operations that is Lapham’s Quarterly I count as great and good news, an omen as favorable as the sight of birds rising to the east in Cicero’s Rome,” Lapham said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Paul to expand the audience of the Quarterly and move more copies of the magazine to prison libraries, community colleges, and public-school classrooms.”

Correction: Morris has been named the first executive director of the American Agora Foundation; he does not succeed Lewis Lapham in the role.