NPR Expands Book Coverage Online

In a refreshing twist on the continuing trend of dwindling book coverage, a national media outlet has actually expanded its literary presence online, Publishers Weekly reported yesterday. National Public Radio recently increased the number of weekly book reviews and other features on its Web site at NPR.org, hiring six new book reviewers, including Bookslut.com's Jessa Crispin and former National Book Critics Circle president John Freeman.

"We're building up our book coverage because book content really works for our audience," NPR senior supervisng producer Joe Matazzoni told Publishers Weekly's Calvin Reid.

In addition to newly expanded reviews pages, which include such features as Books We Like and Three Books We Like, NPR has beefed up its Book Tour feature, a collection of forty-minute podcasts of readings at Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.