One hundred authors, ranging from novelist Tony D’Souza to Salon.com editor Joy Press, signed the National Book Critics Circle petition to save the Washington Post Book World’s stand-alone section. Nevertheless, as GalleyCat reported, the section will close.
Update from Ron Charles, Fiction Editor at Book World: “Book World as a stand-alone section has three more issues: Feb. 1, Feb. 8, and Feb. 15. And Book World as an entity will continue to exist with all its current staff.”
The Book World section will still exist online. While some see the closure as an opportunity for online reviewers, the NBCC’s post embodies the fear and anxiety that some feel about the state of the traditional book review.
Add your thoughts in the comments section. Here are thoughts from author Amanda Vaill: “For too long, newspapers all across the country have made these sections advertising ghettos for publishers and booksellers, and have insisted that the revenues thus generated should be the section’s only means of support. I wouldn’t be the first to wonder why newspapers don’t demand that sports teams and venues support sports sections.”