Michiko Kakutani, the chief book critic for the New York Times, is stepping down from that position after 38 years. She says she is “moving on to focus on longer pieces about politics and culture, though I will always love and write about books.” (Vanity Fair indicates she is among those taking a voluntary buyout from the paper, which the NYT neglects to include in their own reporting.) Kakutani joined the books desk in 1983, and in 1998 she won a Pulitzer “for her passionate, intelligent writing on books and contemporary literature.” As editor Pamela Paul and editorial director Radhika Jones say […]