As news broke that Kirkus Reviews would close, the Twittersphere exploded with commentary from worried writers, readers, and publishers around the world–can the book review survive the loss of this magazine that has reviewed literature since 1933?
Novelist Colson Whitehead wrote this tribute: “Kirkus, you were always kind to me. Thanks for slightly reducing my prepub anxiety, agony and agita.”
Washington Post Book World fiction editor had these thoughts: “You’d think w 3 newspapers still running book reviews & more than a dozen bookstores left in US, Kirkus would have been rolling in the dough…Every time we lose 1 of these rare independent voices we grow more dependent on publicists, authors’ parents’ friends clogging blogs [with] praise.”
Literary blogger Edward Champion wrote: “What happens to all the books that can’t get coverage in the newspapers? Blogs can’t come close to picking up the slack.”
Soft Skull editor Denise Oswald had this response: “Yikes, is this going to make it even harder to sell in.”