Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) is a 28-year career journalist whose venues have included three of Time Warner’s CNN networks, the Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Observer, D Magazine, the Tampa Tribune, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and other media. Anderson’s roles in newspapers, magazines, network television, and online network news have included critic, reporter, editor, managing editor, news anchor, and senior producer.
Anderson writes the weekly Thursday column Writing on the Ether for University of Cincinnati media professor and national publishing analyst Jane Friedman.
A Fellow with the National Critics Institute, Anderson has professionally reviewed books, theatre, dance, music, and visual arts for several mainstream media for three decades. He wrote reviews of literary fiction for Reader Unboxed, a book-review site. From the end of January 2012, Anderson will be a regular contributor to Writer Unboxed, the parent site of Reader Unboxed.
Anderson has served a United Nations P5 diplomatic posting to Rome as Creative Advisor and Multi-Media Manager to the UN’s World Food Programme. And he was Creative Consultant and Executive Producer to INDEX: Design to Improve Life, the Danish government’s awards program for international humanitarian design in Copenhagen under the royal patronage of HRH Frederik, Prince of Denmark.
Prior to becoming a journalist, Anderson worked as an Equity actor and as an account executive with Siegerman Associates, Inc., in public relations and advertising. His play script, Bernard Shaw: Weeding the Garden, is based on the religious writings of George Bernard Shaw. It was entered into the permanent Shaw Archives by Dan Laurence. Anderson was granted a limited-time performance license for the piece by the Shaw Estate via the Society of Authors in London.
Anderson holds a BA (William and Mary), an MA (University of Michigan) and an MFA (Florida State University Asolo Conservatory). He has done special readings in the psychology of the arts at the University of Bath, England.
In his 2011 Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) residency, Anderson worked with Master Artist and novelist Victoria Redel of Sarah Lawrence College.
He is a member of Digital Book World, the American Men’s Studies Association, the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, the American Theatre Critics Association (former executive committee member) and the International Association of Theatre Critics (former vice president).
Anderson is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. He is a longtime supporter of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). As part of his interest in the potential impact of serious music and writing on each other, he has made the first challenge grant to listeners of Q2 Music , the 24/7 live-streaming contemporary classical Internet service of NPR flagship WNYC/WQXR in New York.
About Porter Anderson
Porter Anderson, BA, MA, MFA, is a Fellow with the National Critics Institute and has done special readings in the psychology of the arts at the University of Bath, UK. As a journalist, he has worked with three networks of CNN (CNN USA, CNN International, CNN.com) and was on the lead development team for CNN.com Live. He also has worked on The Village Voice, Dallas Times Herald, D Magazine, Sarasota Herald-Tribune and other outlets. He writes the weekly (Thursdays) WRITING ON THE ETHER column at JaneFriedman.com. Anderson also is a regular contributor to WriterUnboxed.com and to Digital Book World’s (DigiBookWorld.com) Expert Publishing Blog. He has been posted by the United Nations to Rome (P-5, laissez-passer) for the World Food Programme, and served as Executive Producer to INDEX: Design to Improve Life in Copenhagen. He is based in Tampa and his primary medium is Twitter. Follow him @Porter_Anderson
