Petra Mayer (1974-2021)

NPR books editor Petra Mayer, 46, died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism November 3, 2021 at Holy Cross Hospital in Maryland.

Mayer was the books editor for National Public Radio’s cultural desk, where she was a tireless advocate for science fiction and fantasy literature and comics, and often hired SF authors to write reviews. She also covered genre events for the radio, including Comic-Con.

Mayer was born in 1974 and grew up in Washington DC. She attended Amherst College, and got her start at NPR while she was still in school, working as an engineering assistant in 1994. In 1997 she took a position as a news writer for a Boston public radio station. She got her master’s in journalism from Columbia University, and returned to NPR in 2000, where she worked as a production assistant, associate producer, and director. She joined NPR Books in 2012.

For more, see the obituary at NPR.