Gilbert Cruz, cultural journalist: ‘You can question Philip Roth’s misogyny and still understand there is value in reading the book’

He has been in charge of the literary supplement and responsible for book coverage at The New York Times for three years. Previously, Gilbert Cruz, 43, was in charge of the culture section of the same newspaper, and worked for New York Magazine and Entertainment Weekly. On Sunday, just hours before the closing of the 2025 Madrid Book Fair, dedicated to New York City, he participated in a conversation organized by EL PAÍS with Jordi Amat, coordinator of the newspaper’s Babelia supplement.

Cruz advocates an unbiased approach to books and assumes that, given the explosion of titles published today, a media outlet must not only focus on reviews, but also try to reach readers through all possible channels and help them find works that might interest them. “There are a lot of people who are interested in books,” he points out. Every week, he hosts the NYT book podcast and frequently appears in the supplement’s videos.

Question. What was the first book that hooked you?

Answer. Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I was probably about nine years old and it introduced me to the idea that books can be thrilling, they can be exciting, and they can be something you can become obsessed with.

Q. Last year you wrote a very interesting piece about the essential Stephen King, so that passion lives on.

A. I read a ton of King until I was nine, 10, into my teenage years, and then I felt as though I had to read, quote, “serious books.” I would go to the Strand, this huge bookstore in New York City, buying lots of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Philip Roth. I didn’t return to King until I was in my mid-to-late twenties. I think what I had grown to understand, and what I try to bring to my job now, is that both things can be good in different ways. There can be value in Stephen King novels, and there can be value in The Great Gatsby, which is probably the book I’ve read the most times in my life. Both are important, entertaining, and have something to tell you about the human condition. There is no reason to look down on Stephen King because he is a popular author.

Q. What does Stephen King get right about America?

A. I think what he gets about America is that, even though he’s been rich for a very long time, when he started he was a poor guy who grew up in Maine and understood what it meant to be broke, to live in a fractured family, and to be lower-middle class, what real people had to do to work for a living. And he was able to channel that understanding of the regular person into all of his books. I think he remains popular in America not just because popularity breeds popularity, but because readers still see something of themselves reflected back to them.

Q. Roth and John Updike are part of a group of novelists who have come under severe judgment in recent years. How do you understand that change?

A. It’s a natural reaction to younger generations looking to the past and saying these men wrote about women in a certain way, about race in a certain way, so it’s natural for those generations to question the value of some authors. But you can question whether or not Philip Roth has elements of misogyny in his novels and still understand that there is value in reading the book.

Q. What three trends would you highlight in the world of publishing and book reviews?

A. In publishing, certainly, the undeniable trend over the past few years has been the rise and success of the Romantasy genre, which is a combination of romance and fantasy. The best-selling author in America last year, I believe, was Sarah J. Maas, who writes romantasy novels. And then you have someone like Rebecca Yarros, who’s written the Iron Flame books. It’s a genre that is absolutely dominating American publishing. Another trend is the rise of self-publishing. There’s a market of consumers and readers who are very invested in reading self-published books; I don’t know that they’re of the highest quality, because they’re not edited, but there are many readers that just want the story, they’re not necessarily concerned with the quality of the writing. As for book reviewing, there’s a negative trend, which is that there are fewer and fewer outlets in America that can pay competitive rates or even any rates at all. There are fewer places that have the budget to justify reviewing books, because the American media industry is not in a great place right now.

Q. Is the political climate affecting what is published in the U.S.?

A. Well, we are only six months now into the Trump administration and it takes a while for books to be written and published. The books coming out now are largely about last year’s election campaign. I think when it comes to intellectuals or thought leaders who are trying to think about what this new administration means for America, it’s going to take a little bit longer to see those books.

Q. There’s been a lot of talk about cancellation and wokeism. How has this affected authors and books?

A. In the early part of this decade, readers or consumers of media, film, television etc. were very quick to register their displeasure with the politics a piece of art conveyed, or with the politics or behavior of creators of art. Whether or not you consider cancellation to be real, or whether you think it’s a legitimate phenomenon, there was a thing that happened in which some creators, most of them male, found themselves being heavily criticized online and weren’t able to make projects in the way they did before. Given the current political environment in America, I don’t know if this will remain the case.

Q. What attributes should a critic have?

A. It is a critic’s job to think out loud in front of a readership or a public and to be very comfortable with having an opinion, and not needing others to agree with them or feeling that they need to pull their punches. A critic tries to help someone else think through a piece of art they are experiencing, and you need to be very firm in your beliefs, your expertise, and your opinion. All of this means you have to be stubborn, in a good way.

Q. What are the golden rules you pass on to your reviewers?

A. Try to be as fair as possible. It’s very difficult to write a book — even though more books are being written than ever before, more than any person can possibly read in a given year — and it’s important for a reviewer to be honest; but also fair, because the author went into that book with an intent, and you have to try to identify what that intent was, and not to review the book that is not there, or the book that they wish existed. Write about the book that is in front of you.

Q. What are you going to read this summer?

A. The latest novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, a bestselling author I’d like to get to know better. And a classic I haven’t read before, maybe Middlemarch by George Eliot.

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