Esther Sun is a journalist based in New York City. This summer, she will be reporting on the metro desk for the San Jose Mercury News. In the fall, she will join the Albany Times Union as a Hearst fellow covering New York state government and politics.
Esther has covered local news at the Sacramento Bee, national and trending news at NBC’s TODAY, and global press freedom at Voice of America. She also has freelance bylines in the New York Amsterdam News and the Nation. As city news editor at the Columbia Daily Spectator, she managed metro reporting on West Harlem and Morningside Heights and broke multiple stories on the evictions of historic preschools that made national headlines—the media attention directly led to the reversal of one eviction decision. She also has editorial experience at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Politics and Society Institute in Jordan.
Outside of journalism, Esther has received Columbia’s Academy of American Poets prize, its George Edward Woodberry prize, and the Oxbelly fellowship for her poetry.
A Bay Area native, Esther graduated from Columbia University as a John Jay Scholar and with urban studies departmental honors. She spent a semester studying and working in Amman.
Sacramento Bee: "Sacramento is building more community gardens. Who will take care of them?"
Sacramento Bee: "Sacramento promised to require community benefits from developers. Has the city followed through?"
Sacramento Bee: "‘This life is really temporary’: From Muslim to Buddhist, how Sacramento cares for the dead"
Columbia Daily Spectator: "Columbia to evict long-standing Red Balloon preschool in West Harlem"
Columbia Daily Spectator: "‘In Crisis’: The costs of the Red Balloon eviction for young parents at Columbia"
