By Maya Trent · Originally reported by Marcus Vanderberg (2012) · Wayback archive →
In May 2012, longtime LA Times books editor Jon Thurber announced his retirement, and the paper opened the search for his successor. The transition was a small structural moment in the city’s books-and-criticism beat.
Then
Thurber had been one of the longest-tenured editors at the paper, with substantial influence on the LA Times’ books-section identity. The Books section had survived the post-2008 newsroom contractions but was operating with substantially smaller staff. Daily-paper books sections were already in painful contraction across the broader industry.
Now
Subsequent books editors have included Carolyn Kellogg, who ran the section for years through the mid-2010s. The LA Times Festival of Books has continued to operate and remains one of the largest U.S. literary festivals by attendance. The broader category — daily newspaper books editor — has continued to thin across U.S. newspapers through the 2010s and into the 2020s. Lit Hub, Public Books, and the broader migration of serious book criticism away from daily-paper sections has largely replaced it.