Bad sentences beware of Washington Post nonfiction book critic Carlos Lozada

Behind the Prose

Woe be unto you writer, should you land in a Washington Post article titled “The five worst sentences I read in January.” When I read that post written by the new nonfiction book critic Carlos Lozada, I knew two things. First, I needed to interview Lozada. Second, I was afraid to write him an email. Lozada’s voice engaged me because in addition to rhetorical smarts, he’s pretty funny. Though he’s been at the paper for several years, he began his new role at Book Party in January. I’m proud to announce the March 22 episode of Behind the Prose will feature an interview with Lozada. In classic Behind the Prose fashion, I’ll learn how he approaches his own writing craft and process and what it’s like to read and write for a living. Besides the five worst sentences he read in January, we’ll discuss his Book Party posts including the hilarious book review “Reggie Love on life as Obama’s “chief of stuff” and the ballooning list of journalism cliches forbidden in the The Post’s Sunday Outlook section. Oh, and if you do find yourself in one of Lozada’s worst sentences articles, don’t be upset. He just shames your offending sentence, not your entire book. Unless, I suppose, it needed it. Carlos Lozada is associate editor and nonfiction book critic at the Washington Post, where he has worked since 2005 in various capacities, including economics editor, national security editor and Outlook editor. Previously, he was managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine and a Knight-Bagehot fellow in economics and business journalism at Columbia University. A native of Lima, Peru, he is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Princeton University.