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Can you keep a secret? As the pandemic forced us to socialize at a distance, Kelsey
McKinney was mourning the juicy updates, jaw-dropping stories, and idle chatter that
she’d typically collect over drinks with friends. She realized she wasn’t the only one
missing these little morsels and her hunger for this aspect of normalcy took on a life of
its own and the blockbuster Normal Gossip podcast was born. With listenership in the
millions and gossip quickly becoming her day job, Kelsey found herself with the urge to
think more critically about gossip as a form, to better understand the role that it plays
in our culture.

In YOU DIDN'T HEAR THIS FROM ME, McKinney explores the murkiness of everyday
storytelling. Why is gossip considered a sin and how can we better recognize when
gossip is being weaponized against the oppressed? Why do we think we’re entitled to
every detail of a celebrity’s personal life because they are a public figure? And how do
we even define “gossip,” anyway? She dishes on the art of eavesdropping and dives
deep into how pop culture has changed the way that we look at hearsay. But as much
as the book aims to treat gossip as a subject worthy of rigor, it also hopes to capture
the heart of gossiping: how enchanting and fun it can be to lean over and whisper
something a little salacious into your friend’s ear. With wit and honesty, McKinney
unmasks what we're actually searching for when we demand to know the truth – and
how much the truth really matters in the first place.

Kelsey McKinney is a reporter and writer who lives in Philadelphia. She is the host of
Normal Gossip, as well as a co owner and features writer at Defector.com. She has
worked as a staff writer at Deadspin, Fusion, and Vox, and her reporting and essays
have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, GQ, Vogue, Cosmopolitan,
Vanity Fair and many others. Her first novel, God Spare the Girls, was published in the
summer of 2021 by William Morrow.