Pamela Paul

Pamela Paul
At the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born	1970 or 1971 (age 52–53)
Occupation	Columnist editor journalist author
Education	Brown University (BA)
Years active	1997–present
Notable works	The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony Pornified Parenting, Inc.
Spouse	Bret Stephens ​ ​ (m. 1998, divorced)​ Michael Stern ​ (m. 2004)​
Children	3
Website
pamelapaul.com

Pamela Paul (born 1971 or 1972) is an American journalist, correspondent, editor, and author. Since 2022, she has been a columnist for The New York Times. From 2013 to 2022, she was the editor of The New York Times Book Review, where her role expanded to oversee all New York Times book coverage including the staff critics and publishing news.

Early life and education

Paul is the daughter of Carole and Jerome D. Paul. Her father was a construction contractor and her mother was an advertising copywriter and, later, the editor of Retail Ad World. She graduated from Brown University with an A.B. in 1993. She is of Jewish descent.

Career

Paul was a contributor to Time magazine and has written for many other publications, including Vogue, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Worth. She was a senior editor at the erstwhile magazine American Demographics, and was a London- and New York-based correspondent for The Economist, for which she wrote a monthly arts column from 1997 to 2002, and reviewed film, theater and books. The magazine also characterized her as "closely connected with The Economist."

In 2011, Paul joined The New York Times and wrote the Studied column, as well as serving as children's books editor and features editor for the Book Review, before her promotion to the editorship of the Book Review. Under her direction, the New York Times Book review moved rapidly to gender parity; in 2012, the year before Paul took the job, the Book Review covered 488 books by male authors and 237 by women. In 2014, female representation in the Book Review reached 47%. As Paul described it to The Washington Post, "We try to bear in mind that the books that are of interest to our readers are multifaceted. . . There are so many distinctions that you could choose. Some people think of it very much just in terms of gender. We try to keep an eye on gender but that's just one of the factors. I would say that ethnicity and country of origin are something we pay a lot of attention to."

In 2016, her job was expanded to oversee all books coverage for The New York Times — the Book Review, daily print reviews, and publishing news, both in print and online.

During her time as editor, she also hosted the Book Review's weekly podcast. Under her direction, it was described as one of the best books podcasts in the world.

She is the author of eight books. Her first book was The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony, which was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Politically Incorrect and Good Morning America. After the 2005 publication of her book Pornified, she testified about pornography to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She has also appeared on numerous podcasts, radio shows, and other television shows.

In 2022, she moved from the Books section to the Opinion section at the New York Times. Her columns appear in the Times weekly, have covered many topics, and attract significant comment from Times readers, journalists in other publications, political groups such as FAIR, and academics. This includes remarks that her critics have deemed to be hostile to transgender people. She has been praised for her writing about gender, and the importance of reading.

Personal life

Her first marriage, to Times columnist Bret Stephens, ended in divorce. In 2004, she married financial analyst Michael Stern.

Transgender coverage criticism

See also: List_of_The_New_York_Times_controversies § Open_letters_on_transgender_coverage

Since 2022, Paul has written multiple columns on transgender topics on the New York Times. These articles have been described as transphobic by some journalists and transgender activists. On February 2, 2024, she published a 5,000-word piece titled "Gender Dysphoric Kids Deserve Better Care", which discussed the stories of people who had received gender-affirming care in their youth and later detransitioned.

Four days after being published, Paul's article on detransitioners was featured as one of the sources in a legal document authored by the Alliance Defending Freedom challenging an injunction placed against an Idaho law that made it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to children.

Human Rights Campaign had previously stated in a press release that Paul had written "irresponsible, biased news and opinion pieces about the transgender community". The New York Times defended itself and Paul's opinion pieces as fact checked according to Times standards, stating it had aimed to foster debate and open dialogue.

Bibliography

• Paul, Pamela (2003). The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 9780812966763.
• — (2005). Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families. New York: Times Books. ISBN 9780805081329.
• — (2008). Parenting, Inc. New York: Times Books/Henry Holt. ISBN 9780805082494.
• —, ed. (2014). By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 9781627791458.
• —, ed. (2017). My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues. New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 9781627796316.
• with Russo, Maria (2019). How to Raise a Reader. Workman. ISBN 978-1523505302.
• — (2021). Liza Kaplan (ed.). Rectangle Time. Illustrated by Becky Cameron. New York. ISBN 978-0-593-11511-4. OCLC 1155064464.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• — (2021). 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet (1st ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-593-13677-5. OCLC 1236090469.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• Official website
• Appearances on C-SPAN