February 24 Expert Witness: Gossip

Behind Every J.K. Rowling Defense, Arm-Licking, Altman’s Secret Finest Hour

BEHIND EVERY J.K. ROWLING DEFENSE

I think this might be the right place to lay this egg.

I was inspired to tell-all, now that the Onion has made fun of the Times “defense” of author JK Rowling, authored by their new op-ed columnist, Pamela Paul.

PP used to be the editor of the Times’ Book Review supplement. Before that, she was their features editor, and Children’s books editor. She was also married to another of the Times op-ed columnists, Bret Stephens.

This is my saga:

More than a decade ago, I was a cheerful new contributing critic to the New York Times Book Review.

I was recruited by one of the staff editors, to review a single title, and since that went well, I got other assignments. It was a “feather in my cap.”

I didn’t do it for the money — I think at the time it was around $150 for a short review— but because I felt like part of a national book discussion. This was before widespread internet — every avid book reader was reading the Review. I would talk to people on the city…