Abigail Covington

way less waspy than the name implies.

About

Abigail Covington is a writer and  contributing editor at Esquire magazine. Her journalism, essays, and criticism have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, Slate, The Nation, Them, Oxford American, and Pitchfork. Her 2016 article for Oxford American's annual music issue, titled "When the Fire Broke Out," was included in The Best American Essays 2016. Longreads selected her 2019 feature for the Delacorte Review, titled “What Do We Do With Robert E. Lee?” as a Story of the Week. Her 2023 investigation into book banning in North Dakota was nominated for an Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award.

In her decade working in media and publishing, Abigail has been a copy editor for a major metropolitan newspaper, the managing editor of a trade publication, the associate editor of a small, literary journal, and the features editor of a few music blogs that no longer exist. She's also moderated panels at film festivals, hosted post-screening QAs with actors and directors, and provided on-air cultural commentary for a number of podcasts and documentaries. 

Abigail has a BA in Creative Writing and Politics from the College of William and Mary and an MA in Journalism from Columbia University, where she was awarded a narrative nonfiction fellowship by the Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Brooklyn.

Selected Works

Have You Ever Seen an Elephant Twerk?

Ellie the Elephant performing at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where she has dazzled fans of the New York Liberty with her dance moves.

Ellie the Elephant, the mascot for the New York Liberty, has danced her way into the hearts of fans as the team has played its way into the W.N.B.A. finals.

Have You Ever Seen an Elephant Twerk?

Every mascot has its thing. Some dunk. Others flip. As for Ellie the Elephant, the mascot for the New York Liberty women’s basketball team? She twerks. Amelia Bane, 33

For true Swifties, the fun begins when the stadium gates open

Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, which pulls into Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium for six sold-out shows beginning Thursday, provides fans with more than just a concert; it’s a hyper-curated experience that begins the moment you enter the stadium. That’s when security guards hand fans their light-up wristbands, linking the audience together for the rest of the evening.

Depending on when you choose to arrive at SoFi, your immersion into Swiftmania can last anywhere between three hours (her set length) to six-

A Good Sperm Donor Is Hard to Find

Early last year, my partner and I decided it was finally time to start a family. We had already tempted those pesky fertility gods by daring to wait until we were almost (gasp!) 35—after which any pregnancy would be considered by our fine medical professionals to be a geriatric pregnancy—and we still needed to factor in additional time to find some sperm. They say certain things take longer when you’re queer. This is especially true when it comes to forming a family: our plumbing prevents a spee

Inside The Battle For North Dakota’s Bookshelves

"Anal plugs!” thunders North Dakota Republican Rep. Bernie Satrom. “Anal sex. Mutual masturbation. Rimming!” He’s just issued a rare warning in the North Dakota House chamber: “To anyone listening at home with children, you might want to turn off the sound.” A small child is sitting in spitting distance, and a group of high school students (who are, predictably, losing their shit at all this) are seated a few rows behind me in the House balcony.

Satrom is reading from Let’s Talk About It: The T

For Queer Couples, Engagement Rings With Subversive Stones

After becoming engaged to Tim Bell, left, Joshua Farrar said he wanted a ring that reflected how, as a gay man, he has “been defying what I’ve been expected to do my whole life.” For its stone, he chose a salt-and-pepper diamond, a once overlooked variety that has become more popular among L.G.B.T.Q. couples.

As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.

As one jeweler put it, many of her L.G.B.T.Q. clients want “the opposite of what a diamond i

Proud of What, Exactly?

I got engaged in March 2018, two and a half years after gay marriage was legalized in the United States. A few months later, I attended a graduate school party with my fiancée proudly at my side. Between sips of warm white wine, I gushed about the engagement to my professor, a queer author and journalist, and her partner, a longtime political activist and retired professor. I expected them to congratulate us with the same flushed enthusiasm everyone else had expressed. After all, our engagement

Writing

Media and Speaking

Abigail is currently available for media appearances and speaking opportunities. In the past few years, she has moderated a QA with Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller, the star and director of Bros, for the WGAE, and hosted a conversation with the Indigo Girls at the Tribeca Film Festival. She's also provided on-air cultural commentary for the CBC and multiple music documentaries, including a Discovery Plus docuseries on Jerry Lee Lewis. 

Get in touch

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Not Abigail.