Work: Interviews With People Doing Jobs They Love

What do a playwright, a vegan butcher, and an alpaca farmer all have in common? Two popular columnists take us behind the scenes in interviews with twenty-eight workers doing something they love.

With care and delight, New York Times columnists Shaina Feinberg and Julia Rothman take readers all over the world to explore the furthest reaches of passion and dedication in this collection of interviews. Meet a wildland firefighter, a surfer, a ferry captain, a designer of headscarves, an accessibility specialist, and many other real people doing the creative, fascinating, and often difficult jobs that make the world work. This ode to the wild and limitless range of job possibilities also includes thought-provoking questions designed to open conversations with young readers, as well as tips on how they might conduct an interview themselves. Featuring Julia Rothman’s captivating, detailed artwork drawn from real scenes and photos, Work is a work of inspiration and joy that honors people everywhere who love the work that they do.

Shaina Feinberg is a writer and filmmaker. Her films have been commissioned by the New York Times and screened around the world (including in the United States, Turkey, Australia, Canada, and Japan), and she is a recipient of the Reboot Studios Grant (2023). She is also the author of two books for adults, both illustrated by Julia Rothman, and her work has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Topic, Audible, and This American Life. Together, she and Julia Rothman write and illustrate the column Scratch in the New York Times, where they interview real people about their jobs. Shaina Feinberg lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their two children.

Julia Rothman is the author and illustrator of many books for children and adults, including most recently The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense by Jon Scieszka, and Brick: Who Found Herself in Architecture by Joshua David Stein. She is the creator of the Anatomy series, as well as other books for adults. In 2017, she cofounded Women Who Draw, an open directory of female-identifying illustrators, artists, and cartoonists. Together, she and Shaina Feinberg write and illustrate the column Scratch in the New York Times, where they interview real people about their jobs. Julia Rothman lives in Brooklyn.