Summer Bartley Fellowship - Book Review Internship

The Wall Street Journal's Books section is seeking beginning journalists—juniors, seniors or recent graduates (within one year of graduation) with reporting and writing experience at their school newspapers or elsewhere—for a 10-week paid summer internship in our New York City office. The in‑person internship is an opportunity to get hands‑on experience working alongside some of the best opinion writers and editors in the world.

The internship—formally the Bartley Fellowship—honors the Journal’s former Opinion editor, Robert L. Bartley. Opportunities will be awarded to young thinkers and writers who intend to pursue a career in journalism or cultural criticism.

The Books intern is one of several fellows selected each year through an application process that is overseen by senior editors. Bartley Fellows are assigned to a department within the Opinion section—Arts in Review;
Books; or Features (Op‑Eds and Columns). The fellow selected to work with the Books team will assist in commissioning reviews, conducting research, fact‑checking and editing content for the print and digital editions, as well as contributing to social media and digital production. The fellow will be encouraged to submit ideas for book reviews and may also pitch articles or projects to editors elsewhere in the Opinion section.

Internships are paid and generally take place during June, July and August, though start dates can be flexible.

Though a reporting and/or writing background is a plus, the fellowship is primarily an editing internship. Therefore applicants should have experience editing arts or arts‑related copy for their college newspaper, literary magazine or a comparable publication. Students from any discipline may apply, but preference will be granted to those concentrating on literature, history, a foreign language, classics, pre‑law, music, theater, art history, studio art, architecture, philosophy, political science or archaeology—via coursework (though not necessarily a major) or sustained leisure‑time activity.

An appreciation for both the Western and non‑Western canons is desirable, as is an understanding of current issues in the arts. A demonstrated ability to multitask and meet daily deadlines is critical for success, as is attention to detail and a focus on accuracy. Applicants should be familiar with technology as it relates to journalism. Social media experience with a publication or brand would be a plus.

Applicants who are able to demonstrate familiarity with our section’s content will be especially attractive (student applicants without campus‑wide access to the WSJ can purchase discounted subscriptions at  ).

• A cover letter

• Your résumé

• Links to or cited full text of your three best clips

• Your response to the following prompt in no more than 800 words:
  Make a case for any book of your choosing on history, fiction or nonfiction. (Examples: )

Books criticism is recognized at the Journal as an Editorial Page function, and as such operates under the umbrella of the Opinion section. Like the rest of the Opinion section, in our book reviews we believe in rendering clear, independent judgments that are as well argued as they are deeply informed.

The Journal’s book reviews are among the most timely, most widely read and most influential in American literary journalism. Our daily reviews appear in the Opinion section and focus on nonfiction books of interest to ambitious readers of politics, business, science, religion and the issues of the day. Our weekend reviews, which make up a six‑page Books section in print, offer judicious…