Erica Wagner

Writer and critic Erica Wagner looks at the life and achievements of the engineer Washington Roebling, who built New York’s iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

Wagner, born and brought up in New York, explains how the bridge was originally conceived by Roebling’s father but built by Roebling himself. She shows how Roebling’s efforts building bridges for the Union Army during the civil war played a part in the bridge that has linked Brooklyn and Manhattan for more than 130 years. And she offers an engaging portrait both of a brilliant and driven man and of a particular era in New York’s history.

Wagner is consulting literary editor of Harper’s Bazaar and author of Gravity: Stories; Ariel’s Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters and Seizure: A Novel. She was literary editor of The Times for 17 years and has twice been a judge of the Booker prize.

This event is one of a series devoted to writers past and present associated with Harper’s Bazaar to mark the 150th anniversary of the magazine.

Biography & Memoir