Ron Charles (critic)
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Ron Charles (critic)
OR:
Ron Charles (critic) on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Ron Charles (born 1962 in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
) is a book critic at ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''. His awards include the 2008
National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English". for book reviews, and 1st Place for A&E Coverage from the Society for Features Journalism in 2011. He was one of three jurors for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Charles grew up in
Town and Country, Missouri Town and Country is a city in west St. Louis County, Missouri, United States with a population of 11,640 as of the 2020 census. Town and Country has the highest median household income ($134,387 in 2009) of any city in Missouri with a population ...
, and graduated from
Principia College Principia College is a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. It was founded in 1912 by Mary Kimball Morgan with the purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science." Morgan wrote in her book, Education at the Principia that, "Alt ...
and
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...
before getting a job as a teacher at
John Burroughs School John Burroughs School (JBS) is a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school with 631 students in grades 7– 12. Its 49-acre () campus is located in Ladue, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Founded in 1923, it is named for U.S. naturali ...
. After a student's parent offhandedly suggested he try making a living as a book reviewer, Charles sent his first book review to ''
The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'', which eventually hired him. He spent seven years as the ''Monitor''s book review editor and staff critic. In 2005, he was hired by the ''Washington Post''. Sometime after August 2010, with his review of
Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel ''The Corrections'' drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a Jame ...
's ''
Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...
'', Charles began a series of video book reviews for ''Post'' called "The Totally Hip Video Book Review". In the series, Charles, sometimes featuring his wife, high school English teacher Dawn Charles, hams it up with
sight gag In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretation ...
s and intentionally bad
joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...
s. It is a satirical look at current books in the news and the art of book reviewing.


See also

*
Michael Dirda Michael Dirda (born 1948) is an American book critic, working for the '' Washington Post''. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993. Career Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda ea ...
*
Jonathan Yardley Jonathan Yardley (born October 27, 1939) is an American author and former book critic at ''The Washington Post'' from 1981 to December 2014, and held the same post from 1978 to 1981 at the '' Washington Star''. In 1981, he received the Pulitzer ...


Notes


External links


Ron Charles
articles at ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''
Ron Charles
at
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Interview with Ron Charles
by Bookslut, 10/2009 *
Ron Charles Receives Storyteller of the Year Award at 1455 StoryFestLive
2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Ron 1962 births American literary critics Living people Writers from St. Louis The Washington Post journalists Journalists from Missouri The Christian Science Monitor people PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Principia College alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni