Nicholas Sparks and his wife, Cathy, have declared everything Sparks ever wrote null and void by divorcing, and Twitter has consequently lost hope in the power of love.
The National Book Critics Circle has elected its board for the coming year, and among the eight is our own Michael Miller.
There’s been a lot of hiring and firing lately. Amy O’Leary, formerly the Times’ digital deputy editor for the international desk, is moving to Upworthy to act as editorial director. (The Observer wonders if the hire signals “a more serious direction” for the company.) Lois Romano is leaving Politico to return to the Washington Post, and Marilyn Thompson, currently the Washington bureau chief for Reuters, is joining Politico as deputy editor. Buzzfeed has named Melissa Segura as its first investigative fellow and Joshua Hirsh as its reporting fellow. Finally, at The Atlantic, Yoni Applebaum will become the new politics editor and Sophie Gilbert the new culture editor.
At the Chronicle of Higher Education, an article about the “new modesty” in literary criticism.
The Morning News’ Tournament of Books has announced the judges and shortlist for this year’s contest. The list includes Elena Ferrante’s Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation, Jesse Ball’s Silence Once Begun, Sarah Waters’s The Paying Guests, and twelve others novels.
n+1’s winter issue is out. The theme is labor and magazines, with pieces by Daniel Menaker, Gemma Sieff, Keith Gessen, and Maxine Phillips.