A new role for Juliana Barbassa at The New York Times

Juliana Barbassa

We are delighted to announce that Juliana Barbassa will be the new deputy for news and features on the Books desk. Juliana currently heads up coverage of Latin America for International, which she joined in 2018 after serving as the managing editor of Americas Quarterly. She previously worked as senior Rio correspondent for The A.P. And she is also the author of an acclaimed 2016 book, “Dancing With the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream.”

Juliana holds separate bachelor’s degrees in Spanish literature and journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and master’s degrees in Latin American studies and journalism from University of California, Berkeley. She was named Emerging Journalist of the year in 2005 by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and in 2004 received the John L. Dougherty Award from The Associated Press for outstanding work by a journalist 30 years old or younger.

From the moment Juliana joined the International desk, she expertly helped to guide and shape coverage of Latin America — a big, diverse, news-packed region of nearly 700 million people. But Juliana brought much more to the job than deep knowledge of Latin America and a deft editing touch: She is a tremendously generous colleague who is always willing to jump in and help, and who somehow, through it all, maintains a smile and a sense of humor. “This is a great move for Juliana and for The Times, to have an editor with her wide experience and global perspective steer the news and enterprise for the Books desk,” said Michael Slackman, A.M.E. for International. “And while we look forward to collaborating closely with Juliana in her new role, she will be seriously missed.”

A native of Brazil, where she is currently, Juliana has also spent time living in Iraq, Malta, Libya, Spain, France, Switzerland and the United States. Between her experience as an author, her interest in books and her experience covering breaking news, we are excited about what Juliana will bring to our coverage of the publishing industry, the literary world and the ways in which people write, publish and encounter books throughout the world.

Please join me in welcoming Juliana to Books. She will be starting her new position early this year.