Early life and education Petri grew up in
Georgetown, Washington, D.C., the only child of
Wisconsin congressman Tom Petri and nonprofit executive
Anne D. Neal, and attended the
National Cathedral School. She has appeared on
Jeopardy!, won prizes in the
O. Henry Pun-Off, and performed at an international
whistling competition. Her play
The Campsite Rule, a sex comedy whose title is derived from an idea taken from
Dan Savage, was premiered at the
Capital Fringe Festival in 2013. In December 2015, Petri created the
parody Twitter account "Emo Kylo Ren", which envisioned the
Star Wars: The Force Awakens character
Kylo Ren as an angsty teenager obsessed with
Darth Vader. The account went viral after being retweeted by
Hot Topic and receiving attention from media outlets such as
USA Today and
People Magazine, soon gaining more followers than Hot Topic. During the
8th Shorty Awards in 2016, the account won the award for best parody account. Petri revealed that she created this parody account in an interview with
Syfy published on January 25, 2018. and
William Shakespeare. In June 2020, Petri released her second book,
Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, a collection of essays on the Trump presidency years. In April 2023, she released her third book ''Alexandra Petri's US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up)
, which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. The Atlantic'' announced that it hired her in May 2025. ==Personal life==