Hatchet Job of the Year on the Editors Weblog

‘Hatchet Job’: a term first used in 1944, denoting ‘a forceful or malicious verbal attack’. So who would want to celebrate ‘hatchet jobs’ in literary criticism? The  Omnivore would, that’s who.

Too often, the Omnivore believes, the review sections of newspapers, especially the books section, go ignored by readers because the writing is “inward-looking and self-serving.” The publication, which aggregates and showcases criticism relating to literature, film and theatre to provide readers a “cross section of critical opinion”, is running the ‘Hatchet Job of the Year’ award that aims to reward book reviews that are “not simply informative, but entertaining”. Anna Baddeley from The Omnivore team explained to the Editors Weblog why celebrating the hatchet job is the ideal way to encourage great quality literary criticism.