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Ever heard of the artist Otobong Nkanga? No? What about Rick Riordan? Yes, you’ve probably heard of him, writer of the Percy Jackson children’s adventure series, where the Greek and Roman gods are simple and zany and no one asks too many questions about infidelity.
I confess that Riordan’s prose never wowed me.
Valerie is Ideas Editor at The Dispatch, based in New York City. Prior to joining the company in 2025, she worked at The New York Times and NewsGuard Technologies, and she is currently a Novak Fellow through The Fund for American Studies. When Valerie isn’t commissioning and editing the next big essay for The Dispatch, she is probably people-watching in a funky cafe or scheming up her next oddly-themed party.
