The New York Times has found its next Books editor.
Today, The New York Times announced that current Culture editor Gilbert Cruz will be the paper’s next Books editor, replacing Pamela Paul, who left the role in March.
“Gilbert spent the past four years bringing important changes to our arts report, diversifying its voices and story forms, shepherding prize-winning criticism, breaking news and overseeing a muscular service operation devoted to helping our readers discover what to watch next,” wrote Sam Sifton, Joe Kahn, and Carolyn Ryan in a press release.
Now he’ll move to Books to focus his energies on three important pillars of coverage. The first is to reimagine The New York Times Book Review, the nation’s last stand-alone newspaper book-review section, for the digital age. The second is to increase and embolden our reporting on and criticism of ideas and intellectual life, the publishing world and all that lives within it. And the third is to build new muscles in service journalism that will help our readers choose their next books with ease and joy.
Gilbert emerged from a talented pool of applicants to show that he was exactly the right person to lead these efforts. He is a seasoned manager and a digital innovator, possessed of superb news judgment and a fount of ideas, and a wise practitioner of journalism that answers readers’ needs. A natural leader, he will push for provocative coverage and challenging ideas, and bring fresh perspectives to our books report.
Good luck to him!
