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Carolyn Kellogg announced the news on her Twitter feed this morning.
Today is my first day as Book Editor of the @LAtimes
— Carolyn Kellogg (@paperhaus) January 13, 2016Kellogg most recently was listed on the staff page as the lone staff writer for books and culture. Presumably she will get to add some help. There have been no books editors listed since Joy Press signed on for the buyout in November. Former editor David Ulin left in mid-December.
Her current bio on the LA Times website says: "Carolyn Kellogg, who writes about books for the Los Angeles Times, was the winner of the paper's editorial award for feature blogging in 2010. Her work has been published in the Columbia Journalism Review and Black Clock; she is the former editor of LAist.com. She has an MFA in creative writing and is a vice president of the board of the National Book Critics Circle."
The Times PR department also tweeted the news.
Carolyn Kellogg is the new @latimesbooks editor. Congratulations to the one and only @paperhaus!
— LA Times Comms Dept (@LATimesFreshInk) January 13, 2016Here's the newsroom note from editor Davan Maharaj that went out this morning:
Colleagues –
I’m pleased to announce that Carolyn Kellogg is our new Books editor.Carolyn has a deep knowledge of books, publishing and the literary culture of Los Angeles, along with a digital background that will enable us to reimagine our books coverage to serve readers online as well as in print. Her job will go beyond the printed word to explore ideas, film, art and society.
Carolyn joined the L.A. Times in 2008 and launched our book blog Jacket Copy, which quickly became a critical voice in the national conversation around books. She is a recipient of the L.A. Times Editorial Award for blogging and has led several creative digital initiatives. She is also mainstay of the Festival of Books.
Her writing on books shows great range. Recently, she predicted George R.R. Martin would not finish his next book by the start of a new series of “Game of Thrones,” analyzed a surprising resurgence of print books versus digital, and looked at the push for a growing diversity in the kinds of stories Americans read. Carolyn is a vice president of the National Book Critics Circle.
Before coming to The Times, she was editor of LAist.com, web editor for public radio’s Marketplace and web producer at the California Community Foundation. As a consultant, she helped the Getty launch its blog, the Iris. In 2005, she started an independent book blog and podcast. Carolyn, who has an MFA in fiction from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree from USC, has 33,000 followers on Twitter @paperhaus.
Please join me in congratulating Carolyn.
--Davan
And a tweet from Press.
Congrats to @paperhaus, who has officially taken over for me as the LA Times Book Editor!
— Joy Press (@Joypress) January 13, 2016