NYTimes hires WSJ’s Alter to cover publishing

Alexandra has covered books and publishing at The Wall Street Journal for the past five years, focusing on features and analytical pieces in the paper’s Friday arts and culture section. She has profiled authors from Stephen King to Don DeLillo, and delivered smart stories on industry trends like the rise of self publishing and fan fiction, the boom in audiobooks, and the way digital publishers and retailers can now track what and how people are reading. She also wrote front-page stories about quirky publishing trends, like the popularity of Amish romance novels and NASA’s new line of science fiction.

Before the WSJ, Alexandra worked at The Miami Herald, covering local and national religion news. She got to know Abby Goodnough there. “Here are some of the things I love most about her: her playful curiosity, her droll sense of humor, and her unflappably calm demeanor,” Abby said. “She’s super-smart — a deep thinker who is probing and, of course, well-read.”

Alexandra was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and grew up in Dhahran. She earned a college degree and master’s degrees in journalism and religion from Columbia University. She and her husband, Jacob Goldstein, a correspondent at NPR’s Planet Money, live in Brooklyn with their two daughters.

She starts at the beginning of July. Please help us welcome her.