Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971) is a British journalist and playwright. She became the first female editor-in-chief at The Guardian on 1 June 2015 succeeding Alan Rusbridger. Viner previously headed The Guardians web operations in Australia and the United States, before being selected for the editor-in-chief's position.<ref>"Katharine Viner Profile page", The Guardian</ref> Early life and education Raised in Yorkshire, Viner is the daughter of teachers. Her grandfather, Vic Viner, was an able seaman involved in the Dunkirk evacuation. Viner was educated at Ripon Grammar School, where she was head girl. As a teenager, she joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Anti-Apartheid Movement, although the nearest groups were 25 miles away, and read Spare Rib. Her first newspaper article, published in The Guardian in 1987 while she was still in school, was on the ending of the GCE O level examinations, which were being replaced in the UK by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). "Cramming five years of knowledge into two and a half hours does not seem to be a fair system", she wrote. Around 1988, Viner had a period of work experience at the Ripon Gazette, her local newspaper.David Prior "Former Ripon Gazette work experience girl is new editor of The Guardian", Ripon Gazette, 23 March 2015 After A levels Viner read English at Pembroke College, Oxford. Just before her finals, Viner won a competition organised by The Guardian's women's page and was advised by Louise Chunn, then Guardian women's editor, to pursue a career in journalism. "I honestly thought journalism wasn't for me, I thought it was for men in suits in London", she remembered in 2005. During her 20s, Viner spent most of her holidays in the Middle East, a region in which she has a particular interest, spending time in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, West Bank and other locations. Career beginnings For work experience, Viner joined Cosmopolitan, a women's monthly magazine. The magazine retained her afterwards and she became features assistant, then news and careers editor; earlier, she had won another student competition involving a submission to the magazine. After three years at The Sunday Times, working as a commissioning editor and writer for its magazine. Viner joined The Guardian in 1997. Following a period on the staff of the women's page, she became editor of the Saturday Weekend supplement in 1998. She became features editor in 2006 and deputy editor