Maria Russo, New New York Times Children's Book Editor

Shelf Awareness

Last week, we caught up with Maria Russo, the newly named children's book editor at the New York Times, who started in the full-time position on August 3. A native New Yorker, Russo received her Ph.D. in 19th-century American Literature from Columbia University, and quickly realized she wasn't cut out for the tenure track. Instead, she started on a path to cultural journalism.

Russo worked for the New York Times 10 years ago, in 2001, for six months reviewing adult books. "I loved it, and have reviewed ever since for the New York Times, except for the four years I worked at the Los Angeles Times," she said. 

One of her more recent reviews for the New York Times was a rave for R.J. Palacio's Wonder. As books editor at Salon, Russo was mentored by Laura Miller, whom she called "one of the earliest champions of YA books for adults." Russo has worked in Los Angeles for the past 10 years, most recently as editor-in-chief of Pasadena magazine.

In addition to editing and publishing children's reviews once a month in the Review, Russo will write the Bookshelf column, plus a weekly online picture book review. "There are more books published than we can possibly do justice to in the pages of the Book Review," said Russo. Her children--ages four, eight and 11--keep Russo attuned to books in every age category.