We live in a time of jaw-dropping news cycles – of Ukraine and Covid-19 and inflation and politics – and so much more consuming readers’ attention. We cover everything in Times Opinion, but we also use our brainstorming meetings to talk about the big ideas and deeper debates that will endure beyond the latest breaking news, which define American society and culture and shape the way we live. live and think now.
This year, we’ll be expanding the ranks of opinion columnists to bring in more writers and thinkers to wrestle with these ideas and help make sense of the things that everyone is talking about – or no one is talking about enough. We’re thrilled to announce the first of these new columnists: Pamela Paul, Managing Editor of The Times Book Review and one of The Times’ most creative and inquiring minds, author and editor of eight books, and host of the book Review’s Popular Weekly Podcast.
A cultural omnivore who loves to dive into conversation about everything from TV and movies to multi-volume biographies and classics, Pamela has long lived in the world of ideas, but with an instinct to connect those ideas to our lives. of today. His favorite pieces for The Times show this range: a story about preschool depressionthe struggle of a lesbian couple prevented from adopting an adopted baby in West Virginia and a story about what happens when you have cancer during pregnancy. She has also written articles on read books you hate, the mask wearing work, downgrade your technology and having bad hair on tv. His two favorite pieces for Sunday Styles were about be terrible at camp and the death of the phone call.
A former arts correspondent for The Economist, Pamela joined The Times in 2011 as editor of children’s books, and is behind the By the Book feature and the Top 10 podcast and live event. books.
“Pamela was a hugely innovative and creative book publisher,” said Dean Baquet, editor of The Times. “She brought new voices to the section and was fearless in protecting the independence of the book report.”
Sam Sifton, The Times’ deputy editor who oversees cultural and lifestyle coverage, added: “Pamela’s tenure has been one of courageous, free-thinking criticism and inventive corporate reporting on the world of books. She leaves big shoes to fill.
Pamela impressed us in our conversations with her keen desire to write about what people really think and believe but are often too afraid to say. She clarified to us that she had little patience for groupthink right or left, but rather wanted her column to help people question what has often become the received view.
Ideas and writing go hand in hand for Pamela. She kept a diary of all the books she read since she was 17, which was the subject of her memoir, “My Life with Bob”. His play on the end of boredom for Opinion boosted his most recent book, “100 Things We’ve Lost on the Internet.” Her other books are “How to Raise a Reader” (with Maria Russo), “The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony”, “Pornified”, “Parenting, Inc.” and “By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life. Last year, she wrote her first picture book, “Rectangle Time,” and has two more children’s picture books on the way.
Pamela grew up in the city and on Long Island, and in her senior year of high school, she was arranging her classes so she could work a 40-hour week at three different jobs. She studied history at Brown and worked in college through a work-study program. After graduating, she bought a one-way ticket to a small town in northern Thailand, wanting to see if she could manage somewhere without a job and without contacts, where she would belong to the racial, ethnic and religious minority and should learn an entirely new culture and language. It was a formative experience, she says; it’s also a window into the adventurous and curious spirit of our new Opinion columnist.
In the coming months, we’ll be announcing more columnists at Opinion, joining our Class of 2021 newcomers, Ezra Klein and Zeynep Tufecki, and the brilliant and beloved columnists who have made The Times the best house in opinion journalism in the world.
Please join us in welcoming Pamela, who will start at Opinion in April.
— Katheleen Kingsbury, Patrick Healy and Charlotte Greensit
