Natan Last

Natan Last is a writer, crossword constructor, and immigration policy advocate whose work treats puzzles as cultural texts—shaped by history, politics, and the people who make and solve them. A regular contributor of crosswords to The New Yorker and The New York Times, Last brings a writer’s attention to language and a social scientist’s eye for systems to his debut book, Across the Universe, which traces the crossword’s history and the debates about its future, ultimately asking if the crossword can help us reshape the world. Beyond his work in puzzles, Last’s writing spans essays, academic research, policy papers, poetry, and criticism for The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Nation, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. Last is trained as a social scientist, focused on migration, political economy, technology, and law. He has served as a director at the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and was a founding member of the International Rescue Committee’s research and innovation lab. Last has lectured on immigration politics, data ethics, literature, and crosswords at Princeton, the Harvard Kennedy School, SXSW, The New Yorker Festival, and the United Nations’ annual refugee consultation in Geneva.