Why Lena’s Lenny Letter is closing
Subscribers were notified on Friday that the site, which began as a newsletter in 2015, will close that day
Lenny Letter, the feminist content site founded by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, is shutting down.
Subscribers were notified on Friday that the site, which began as a newsletter in 2015, will close that day, confirming reports that emerged on Thursday from Digiday and the New York Post. Staff and contributors were informed days before. Dunham, Konner and reps for Lenny Letter and Conde Nast have not yet responded to a request for comment.
“When we began plotting Lenny almost four years ago, we were casually referring to this venture as our cool older sister — someone who’s been there, done that, someone who’s learned from her successes and her failures,” read the final send to subscribers on Friday.
“But this newsletter has grown way beyond that dream. It was our dearest hope that we could create a space where new voices were safe to speak, and speak loudly. But we didn’t create that. You did. What you have created
— a fiercely passionate community of dedicated readers, writers, and artists — is more than we ever could have asked for.”
Lenny Letter launched on the heels of the producing duo’s hit HBO series Girls and discussed topics such as entertainment, fashion and politics through a contemporary feminist lens.
The twice-weekly offering was one of the first to experiment with email-only content, which has included headlinemaking features such as Jennifer Lawrence’s pay disparity essay, Alicia Keys’ decision to wean off makeup and Michelle Obama’s plea to prioritise global education, as well as conversations with Hillary Clinton and Janet Mock.
The initiative previously partnered with Hearst for ad sales, and then Conde Nast. It branched out into a content site with podcasts and videos, as well as a book imprint under Random House. At a high point, the newsletter boasted a base of 500,000 subscribers.