NYT culture editor Danielle Mattoon wrote to staff in a memo Thursday that the paper has hired Jennifer Senior as a book critic “focusing on nonfiction,” starting October 19. Matton writes, “As a reviewer, Jennifer brings a connoisseur’s eye for detail and a reporter’s sense of context, allowing her to get at the heart of both the books she’s reviewing and the larger stories they are trying to tell.”
She has been a contributing editor at New York Magazine, and is the author All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood. The paper has been looking for a new critic since May, when the paper announced Janet Maslin’s decision to “leave the grind of full-time reviewing.” The focus on nonfiction will lead to immediate questions about whether any of the daily paper’s critics will dare to write about commercial fiction.
Senior was a clear in the Times’ Washington Bureau more than 20 years ago, and has written reviews for the TBR — we conveniently have 12 of them archived in our Reviews Database.
Alex Shephard joined The New Republic earlier this month as news editor, culture. Previously he was director of digital media at Melville House.
Guy Gonzalez is leaving Library Journal to join The Reading Room as vp, audience development.
Hannah Gouldstone has joined Simon & Schuster as director of integrated marketing, reporting to Liz Perl. Gouldstone, previously ceo of digital education content company Clever Goats Media, will oversee the digital learning platform SimonSays.
Donna Loffredo has joined Harmony Books as editor. Previously she was associate editor at Atria.
Author Cheryl Strayed is serving as the “official spokesperson” for this year’s Indie First, the program of activities supporting independent bookstores that ties in to American Express’s Small Business Saturday (on Thanksgiving weekend, November 28). In a letter posted online, she calls on authors and illustrators to join in and sign up to appear at local bookstores.
Little, Brown is going back to press on another printing for Chigozie Obioma‘s Booker-shortlisted debut The Fishermen, now with 20,000 copies in print.
New Space
The Center for Fiction has hired BKSK Architects to lead the buildout of their new 17,000 square foot home in the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District, planned for occupancy in 2017. They say the new space will be designed to include a bookstore, auditorium space, “expanded meeting areas, flexible workspaces for reading and writing, and administrative space.”