paper trail

Elisa Gabbert named poetry columnist at the New York Times Book Review; Dan Chiasson is feeling the Bern

Elisa Gabbert. Photo: Adalena Kavanagh

Elisa Gabbert, poet and author of the collections The Word Pretty and The Self Unstable, will replace David Orr as the New York Times Book Review’s poetry columnist. Gabbert’s first column for the paper will appear next week.

At Nieman Lab, Hanaa’ Tameez looks at a new study conducted by the Center for Media Engagement examining how including reporters’ bios with the stories they write might influence reader engagement and trust. Apparently, it does not: “But as it turns out, your readers…don’t much care.” The study advises newsrooms to use bios “in conjunction with trust-building strategies that do work, like including information about why a story was written and listing ethics, diversity and corrections policies.”

New Yorker book critic and poet Dan Chiasson is feeling the Bern, and wants other writers to feel it too. Recenty, he wrote a letter to Thomas Pynchon, urging the Gravity’s Rainbow author to endorse Bernie Sanders.

Tickets are available for the New York Public Library’s March 18 tribute to Toni Morrison, a night of performances and conversations featuring Nicole Dennis-Benn, Erroll McDonald, and Brandon Dirden, among others.

In other library news, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Historical Society have announced a plan to combine and expand their institutions. The partnership will foster “an enhancement and expansion of everything we do,” said Brooklyn Historical Society president Deborah Schwartz. “This includes the ongoing building of our collections in ways that foster inclusion and reflect the diversity of the borough.”