Larissa MacFarquhar
New Yorker staff writer
Larissa MacFarquhar is an American writer who has worked at The New Yorker since 1998, known for her profiles. She wrote Strangers Drowning, a book about people who push altruism to extremes.
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American Born 1968 in London, United Kingdom
About Larissa MacFarquhar
Larissa MacFarquhar is an American writer, born in London in 1968, who moved to the United States at 16. She joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 1998. Her profile subjects have included Barack Obama, Hilary Mantel, Derek Parfit and Aaron Swartz. Earlier in her career she worked as a senior editor at Lingua Franca and as an advisory editor at The Paris Review. Her 2015 book Strangers Drowning examines why some people carry the urge to help others to extreme lengths.