The Los Angeles Times is laying off two of its book editors and ending its standalone Sunday book review section on July 27, Publishers Weekly reported yesterday. Although Nancy Sullivan, executive director of corporate communications at the newspaper would not comment on the future of its book coverage, four former editors of the section wrote a joint letter to the blog L.A. Observed complaining about the cuts.
"Angelenos in growing number are already choosing to cancel their subscriptions to the Sunday Times," wrote Sonja Bolle, Digby Diehl, Jack Miles, and Steve Wasserman. "The elimination of the Book Review, a philistine blunder that insults the cultural ambition of the city and the region, will only accelerate this process and further wound the long-term fiscal health of the newspaper."
Book coverage is expected to be folded into the Calendar section of the newspaper, where it will share space with features. Publishers Weekly reported that the Los Angeles Times Festival of the Book is expected to continue, but Wasserman said that without the Book Review it would be "a hollow joke."
Last Monday, the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and the top editor of the Chicago Tribune stepped down as their papers, both of which are owned by the Tribune Company, were preparing for major redesigns and staff cuts.
