Emily Yellin is a Memphis-based journalist, author, speaker and producer. She is a longtime contributor to The New York Times, mostly writing about the South, race and women’s issues. She is the author of two books, and has also written for Time, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications. She has a degree in English literature from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

Emily first interviewed 1968 Memphis sanitation workers 20 years ago. With Striking Voices, she builds on her parents’ legacy — David and Carol Lynn Yellin, who created an oral and visual history archive in 1968 about the strike, housed at the University of Memphis library.