The End of Books Coverage at the Washington Post

"But the Post, it turned out, was much less siloed than the university. On my first day, I discovered that Books was seated next to Food. I broke a sweat scrambling eggs, and here, next to me, was a woman explaining patiently over the phone, "You don't need to tell the readers which kind of chicken breast to use. They can choose organic if they want.""

"Maybe they hadn't expected to be waylaid by a book review when they opened the paper to read about Donald Trump's latest indiscretion or to check the score of a Capitals game; maybe they didn't seek out literary criticism because they didn't realize they liked it, or didn't even know what it was. But they subscribed to a general-interest newspaper, so they happened upon its books coverage occasionally-and, sometimes, they stopped to read it."

In April 2023 a newly minted philosophy Ph.D. was hired as nonfiction critic at the Washington Post's revived books desk. The newsroom environment proved less siloed than academia, with proximity to non-literary desks like Food fostering unexpected conversations and curiosity about everyday topics. General-interest newspaper readers encountered book reviews serendipitously while reading about politics or sports, leading some to discover an interest in literary criticism. Over several years mail arrived from diverse correspondents — doctors, teachers, prison inmates, and public figures — reflecting a broad, engaged readership. The closure of the Post's books coverage therefore removes a public platform that facilitated cross-cultural engagement and incidental discovery.

Read at The New Yorker