I learned this morning from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books that the New York Times terminated its contract with Olivia Waite, who wrote a wonderful romance column for their Book Review section. Waite is a novelist herself — her sapphic historical romance The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics was the first queer hist-rom I ever read. I have massive respect for Waite's talent and her voice in the community. She used her column at the Times to elevate queer and diverse romance novels at a time when coverage of romance, let alone romances written by marginalized voices, is scarce in media. Olivia Waite is nothing less than a champion.

So what did Waite do to deserve getting fired? She reposted a post by another user on BlueSky, Mark Jacobs, that criticized the Times's lack of coverage of new rape allegations about President Trump. Waite received an email from the editor of the Book Review section, Tina Jordan, "saying that Olivia’s clear sentiments about the Times mean that the paper is no longer a good fit for her column," according to reporting by Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

While it is common for media companies to have policies requiring that employees not criticize the publication's choices or the choices of colleagues, Waite worked for the Times as a freelancer. It is not clear if Waite violated any policy, as far as I can tell. However you parse it, it's clear that the decision to terminate Waite's contract is retaliatory. To let her go over a retweet of someone else's criticism of the Times, on BlueSky no less, is petty and pathetic.

Waite's response to her termination is measured and thoughtful. I recommend reading her full statement shared with SBTB here. This passage resonated with me in particular:

"On the eve of a national midterm election, the Times reached all the way over to the Book Review and parted ways with a writer in the genre that most often presents rape scenes from the perspective of the victim, in stories that insistently end with the victim triumphant, beloved, and happy.

And it appears that the paper’s ideal of journalistic objectivity and nonpartisan stance consists of not naming rape allegations as such when they apply to a sitting president, on the eve of a national midterm election."

We talk a lot here at Rebel Ever After about why romance is political. In a time of censorship and book bans, it's galling to see one of the most prominent romance critics silenced for reposting someone else's commentary on the New York Times's failure to cover sexual violence committed by the President of the United States.

The impact of Waite's firing will have downstream impact: even less visibility for the queer and BIPOC authors she regularly elevated in her column. An outpouring of authors on Threads and BlueSky are sharing the difference Waite's column made for their careers, from Regina Black to Emma R. Alban to Ashley Poston to Alexandra Vasti to Danica Nava. On a personal note, it was a dream of mine to have Olivia Waite one day recommend my work in her column. Her taste is excellent, and inclusion in her column gave romance authors a touch of prestige and respect in a genre and industry where that's hard to come by.

The romance community stands with Olivia Waite. She is one of our own. If you would like to email Tina Jordan and the New York Times Book Review to share your thoughts on Waite's dismissal, you can do so at books@nytimes.com.

And hey, today's a great day to buy one of Olivia Waite's novels.

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