'I am little worried': Washington Post's book critic Ron Charles laid off after 20th work anniversary, post goes viral

Ron Charles, a prominent American book critic, was relishing one of the Harry & David pears sent by The Washington Post to mark 20 years of his service when he received his layoff notice. “Ironically, I received my layoff notice from Human Resources while I was eating one of the two remaining Harry & David pears that The Post sent to celebrate my 20th anniversary at the paper,” he said.

Charles, who was a book critic at The Washington Post, is among the more than 300 journalists who were sacked by the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper on Wednesday, bringing its book coverage to an end in one of the most sweeping job cuts in the media industry.

‘I didn’t start off as a journalist’

Sharing his ordeal on social media platform X, Charles said he was initially “shock and sad”, but later realised this could be a chance to pursue his dream of competing in “synchronised swimming”.

The critic traced his career back nearly three decades, recounting how he left a stable job teaching English to review books for The Christian Science Monitor, despite warnings from family members who doubted such work would ever be well paid.

“I didn’t start off as a journalist — some might say I didn’t end up as one, either. Thirty years ago, I gave up a perfectly respectable (and immensely enjoyable) job teaching English to write book reviews for the Christian Science Monitor. My Great Aunt Cele, a lifelong teacher herself, was horrified by this reckless career move: ‘Surely,’ she huffed, ‘they’re not going to pay you to do that.’ She was right, but early,” he said.

Charles spent seven years at the Monitor before the industry’s decline began affecting book sections across US newspapers. After applying unsuccessfully to several outlets, he was eventually hired by The Washington Post following an interview process that included a meeting disrupted by a bomb threat. Years later, he discovered he had been hired because he was considered “nice”.

“So for two decades, in three different buildings, working for four different editors, I was nice. It was easy, really: My colleagues here have been the most brilliant, witty, inspiring people anyone could ask for,” Charles said.

While acknowledging the uncertainty ahead, the critic said he does not plan to retire and intends to continue writing about books and literary culture independently, inviting readers to follow his work on his new platform.

“In any case, I’m not rich enough or tired enough to retire quite yet. So long as I can flip pages — and publishers send me galleys — I intend to keep nattering on about books, authors and our imperilled literary culture. If you’d like to read along, please subscribe here — my new home,” Charles concluded.

Executive editor Matt Murray described the move as “painful but necessary”, telling employees that the organisation “can’t be everything to everyone” as it adjusts to shifting technology and evolving audience behaviour.

Employees were informed of the decisions via email following a company-wide meeting, with the scale of the layoffs taking staff across departments by surprise.