John Freeman on newspaper book reviews

At the time of this interview, John Freeman was president of The National Book Critics Circle. Founded in 1974, the NBCC is a non-profit organization consisting of nearly 700 active book reviewers who honor quality writing and communicate with one another about common concerns.

We met at BookExpo in New York and talked, among other things, about the NBCC’s awards program, the blog called Critical Mass, and the Campaign to Save Book Reviews which addresses the alarming shrinkage of newspaper book review sections across North America.