HuffPo to Launch Books Section

by
Adrian Versteegh
9.16.09

On October 5, the Huffington Post will unveil a new books section and kick off an Oprah-style book club, the New York Observer reported yesterday. According to Arianna Huffington, the site will feature essays and articles culled from the New York Review of Books alongside material contributed by HuffPo readers, a mixture designed to highlight “the best of the old and the best of the new.”

The upcoming books department will be overseen by Amy Hertz, currently an editor-at-large with Penguin’s Dutton imprint. Hertz, who met Huffington while the latter was shopping her 2006 book On Becoming Fearless… In Love, Work, and Life (Little, Brown), will stay on with Dutton despite her new appointment. Huffington has not yet disclosed any details about her book club selections.

Robert Silvers, founder and editor of the New York Review of Books, told the Observer that his staff will work with that of the Huffington Post to choose material for inclusion in the new section. He said that the details of the partnership were still being hammered out, but readers could expect an “official announcement” from the fortnightly magazine soon.