Pamela Paul, editor of the New York Times Book Review, has been given an expanded role at the paper. She will now oversee all book coverage for the New York Times, including the daily Books section, book news, and publishing industry news.
The move was announced by the paper's executive editor, Dean Baquet, in a note sent to New York Times staff on Wednesday. Baquet said the move, among other things, will remove the current barriers that exist between the Sunday book review section and the daily book review. Under the paper's current model, critics who regularly write daily book reviews—like Michiko Kakutani, Dwight Garner, and Jennifer Senior—are prevented from writing for the cover of the Sunday Book Review.
Baquet was also quick to note that the change was not part of a downsizing effort. "I want to make clear that under Pamela’s leadership, books and book reviews will be a consistent and significant part of The Times’s daily culture report," he wrote. "We are the last daily newspaper in America with a free-standing books section, an essential journal of literary discussion and debate.... It will be Pamela’s job to think about how our coverage should change and, of course, how it should not change."
Paul joined the Times in 2011 as the children's book editor. She was named editor of the Sunday Book Review in 2013 and introduced the Bookends column, adding 15 contributing columnists to the Review's ranks.
