NEVER HEARD OF The Atlanta Journal-Constitution? OK, now you have. Why should you care about it? Because you’re reading a books section – and the bad news is that the AJC has just axed its literary editor, Teresa Weaver, and may be about to get rid of its entire book review section.

This, in what is (according to one study, although I’m not sure how they rank these things) apparently America’s 15th most literate city. Who else cares? Richard Ford, James Lee Burke, Karin Slaughter, A. M. Homes, Marina Warner . . . these are a few of the thousands of people who have signed a petition started by the National Book Critics Circle to protest at what has happened in Atlanta.

As a literary editor myself, it goes without saying that I have a vested interest in Teresa Weaver’s fate – I am a turkey and I see Christmas right around the corner. We at The Times started our Books section two years ago in July, but it has to be said that this is bucking a trend. There is still – I think – a lively culture of reviewing here, but things look tougher Stateside.

The Los Angeles Times has slimmed down its coverage; the San Francisco Chronicle, whose books section was folded into a general arts page and then brought back when readers complained, has gone from having eight pages to four. I could keep typing – this is a long list.

Plenty of worse things are happening in the world, I know. And while recently, on a panel with Margaret Atwood, I heard her describe book reviews as “gossip around the village well” – we all like a good gossip, don’t we?

I shouldn’t be too flippant; these are, to be sure, tough times for newspapers around the world as digitalisation seems to breathe down our necks, but it seems to me that readers are readers, and newspapers should be encouraging such folk rather than sending them away. Reviews don’t just help writers: they help people who buy books – and newspapers – too.

I hope that I’m preaching to the converted here, and that you’ll want to sign the petition. I did, it’s easy. Just head for petitiononline.com/atl2007/petition.html
If you want to find out more, turn to bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com

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