Romenesko+ Misc.
Judith Miller will be the online magazine’s theater critic, while pop music and legal issues will be covered by Elizabeth Wurtzel. These and other new hires — they’re named after the jump — “coincide with the debut of a significant redesign that showcases a slew of new features,” says a Tablet release.
Press release
New York, NY (September 6, 2011) – Tablet Magazine (tabletmag.com), the preeminent daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture, has appointed a number of high-profile journalists, prominent academics and economists to its team of Arts and Culture critics. The new hires coincide with the debut of a significant redesign that showcases a slew of new features, as well as Tablet mainstays like the podcast, Vox Tablet, and The Scroll, both of which have won National Magazine Awards. The edgy and user-friendly site boasts an overall sharper look.
Among the site enhancements:
* A new drop-down menu at the top of the homepage allows viewers to preview the contents of the each section, and enables reader-favorite columnists such as Liel Leibovitz, Lee Smith and Shalom Auslander to have their work indexed and easily accessed.
* Special index pages for the Jewish holidays, with each featuring Tablet’s trademark FAQs, essays, trends pieces, and recipes.
· Marc Tracy’s blog “The Scroll” now featured prominently under the headline section, allowing readers to view the blog’s contents by scrolling through links and photos on the homepage.
· New platforms for all multimedia—including slideshows, video and recipes cards (!).
· The new Arts and Culture critics include:
Maya Benton, Photography: An art historian at the International Center of Photography focusing on documentary photographs of Jewish life in Eastern and Central Europe, Benton serves as collection manager for the estate of photographer Roman Vishniac. She has a B.A. from Brown and Master’s from Harvard in Museum and Art Education.
Robin Cembalest, Galleries and Art World: Executive editor of ARTnews since 1998, Cembalest has been covering art for nearly 30 years including stints at The Forward and Artforum. This award-winning reporter is widely published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and El Pais, in addition to many other newspapers and magazines in the United States and Europe. She has a B.A. in Art History and English from Yale
Joshua Cohen, Critic at Large: Widely published in Harper’s, The Forward, The Believer, and The New York Observer, among others, this young American novelist is author of six books, including most recently Witz, as well as numerous essays and other writings.
David P. Goldman, Classical Music: Managing Director and head of debt research for Banc of America securities, this prominent economist and author also serves on the board of Mannes College of Music in New York City. His book, How Civilizations Die, will hit bookshelves this month.
Anthony Grafton, Museums: A Princeton University history professor since 1975 in the field of Renaissance, Reformation and Historiography, Professor Grafton’s current project is a large scale study of the science of chronology in 16th and 17th-century Europe. He holds a B.A., Master’s and Ph.D from the University of Chicago.
Vardit Gross, Israeli Visual Arts: An art critic and curator based in Tel Aviv, Vardit is a weekly art contributor to Yedioth Aharonot, Israel’s largest daily newspaper. She also works with Artis, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting Israeli contemporary art. Her work has appeared in CMJ Magazine, Haaretz and Maariv. As a curator at Creative Time in New York, she has worked with artists such as Laurie Anderson, David Byrne and Jenny Holzer, among others.
David Meir Grossman, Roving Critic: Grossman writes under his full name so you don’t get confused with the actually famous David Grossman. He worked as an organizer on several political campaigns until he decided he didn’t really want to do that anymore. He currently writes for Lapham’s Quarterly, and has written for io9 and Thought Catalog.
Adam Kirsch, Books: A senior editor at The New Republic and a contributor to Slate, The New Yorker and Harvard Magazine, Adam has written several books on poetry and poetry criticism and is the author of Benjamin Disraeli, a biography in the Nextbook Press Jewish Encounters series. He graduated from Harvard in 1997.
Josh Lambert, Obscenity and Jewish Culture Critic: Author of American Jewish Fiction (2009), he is a Dorot Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow at New York University and a prominent researcher of Jewish literature, obscenity, and modern Jewish culture. He is a Harvard graduate, and holds a Ph.D from the University of Michigan.
Daphne Merkin, Movies: This prolific novelist, essayist and New York Times Magazine contributor currently teaches writing at the 92nd Street Y. She was a film critic for The New Yorker under Tina Brown and also had a movie column at The New Leader. A graduate of Barnard College, she began her career as book critic for Commentary magazine.
Judith Miller, Theater Critic: The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist worked for The New York Times for 25 years. Since then she has been a contributor for Fox News Channel and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. While at the Times, she served jail time for not revealing her sources in the CIA leak involving the identity of Valerie Plane. She graduated from Barnard and has a Master’s in public affairs from Princeton.
Alana Newhouse, Television: Tablet’s editor-in-chief is adding television critic to her title. Prior to launching Tablet, she spent five years as culture editor of The Forward, where she supervised coverage of books, films, dance, music, art, and ideas. A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, her work appears in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Boston Globe.
Elizabeth Wurtzel, Legal Correspondent and Pop Music: An American writer and journalist whose memoir Prozac Nation received international acclaim, she was a pop music critic for The New Yorker and New York Magazine. A regular Wall Street Journal contributor, her next book, Creatocracy, will be released later this year. The book is based on her Yale Law School thesis on intellectual property.
David Samuels, who recently joined Tablet as literary editor, was the driving force behind the new lineup of Arts and Culture critics. “I’m hard-pressed to think of a more diverse, talented collection of thinkers and writers—at any publication,” said Newhouse. “Together with the redesign, our readers are in for a new era of rich writing and superb critical thinking about Jewish life.”
Tablet again tapped the services of award-winning design studio Project Projects, which was also responsible for creating the magazine’s initial site design in 2009. Based in New York, Project Projects’ clients include the Berkeley Art Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, Harvard GSD, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery.
We have made it easy to comment on posts, however we require civility and encourage full names to that end (first initial, last name is OK). Please read our guidelines here before commenting.