New York, NY – October 8, 2008 – Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that the Barnes & Noble Review (www.bn.com/review), an online literary destination for readers, featuring industry-heralded book reviews, columns, features, and interviews from a wide range of established critics, reviewers, and authors, is celebrating its first anniversary. From its launch last October, the Barnes & Noble Review has been recognized as an important new voice on the literary scene, publishing full-length daily book reviews on a wide range of new titles, from thrillers to literary fiction, biography to politics, poetry to memoir, bestsellers to the best of the academic presses.

As it embarks upon its second year, the Barnes & Noble Review will continue its extensive coverage of books, music, and DVDs as well as its series of in-depth interviews, monthly columns, and weekly features. Building on the success of its popular multimedia presentations, Guest Books: Notable Readers Share Their 3 Favorite Books and Five Books: The Smart Reader’s Guide to Good Reading, and its new web video Gallery: Author Insight into Art and Artists, the Review will continue to expand the reach of the traditional book review with innovative features that take advantage of web technology.

“At a time when so many newspapers are cutting their book review sections, we’ve been pleased to be able to offer a broad and deep new venue for readers and writers alike,” said James Mustich, Editor-in-Chief of the Barnes & Noble Review.  “We intend to maintain the standard of quality we have set, and at the same time continue to look for fresh ways to invite readers into a wide-ranging—and fun—discussion of books, culture, and ideas.”

Regular contributors to the Barnes & Noble Review include such acclaimed writers as Tom Carson, Edward Champion, Michael Dirda, John Freeman, A.C. Grayling, Sheri Homan, Ezra Klein, Paul LaFarge, Mark Sarvas, Dava Sobel, Tess Taylor, and Barbara Spindel. 

In early October, esteemed music critic Greil Marcus makes his first appearance in the Review with an essay on Bob Dylan’s new release, Tell Tale Signs. Other forthcoming reviews of special note include Dan Menaker on Art Spiegelman’s Breakdowns, Max Byrd on James M. McPherson: Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief, and Alexandra Mullen on J. K. Rowling’s Tales of Beedle the Bard. This fall, the Barnes & Noble Interview will also bring readers exclusive in-depth conversations with science fiction icon Neal Stephenson, composer John Adams, and bestselling novelist Khaled Hosseini, among others. The Interview archive already boasts insightful exchanges with Philip Roth, Philip Pullman, Geraldine Brooks, Richard Price, Jonathan Franzen, Salman Rushdie, Renée Fleming and more.

The Review’s line-up of regular columnists is also growing.  Bestselling romance novelist Eloisa James's monthly Reading Romance column, offering insights into one of the most popular genres, appears in the first week of each month, while Brooke Allen's witty and wide-ranging Reader's Diary appears in the last. Starting in October, James and Allen will be joined by steampunk pioneer Paul DiFilippo, as he inaugurates The Speculator, a monthly Science Fiction & Fantasy column, with an appreciation of the late Tom Disch. An audiobook column will launch later in the season.

Regular weekly features on the Review continue to offer readers book news that’s both entertaining and enlightening. In November, Stephen King will bring his three favorite reads to Guest Books, where he will join Jamie Lee Curtis, George Pelecanos, and Sandra Tsing Loh in our growing group of notables. The Review’s eclectic Long List, presenting the editors’ choice of the 50 books, CDs, and DVDs readers should know about now, is updated with new titles each week, and the brief reviews carried in the Spotlight offer a quick look at books, DVDs, and CDs you shouldn’t miss.

Stepping out of the virtual world, the Barnes & Noble Review will continue its In Person series on December 2, with a live conversation with Khaled Hosseini at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York City.

The Review’s original literary material joins a plethora of multimedia content on Barnes & Noble.com, including video features and forums on the Barnes & Noble Studio (www.bn.com/studio) and Barnes & Noble Book Clubs (www.bn.com/bookclubs), to provide an all-encompassing, multi-faceted resource for book lovers around the globe.