While the news has not been officially confirmed, the National Book Critics Circle reports that Book World, the Washington Post's stand-alone book supplement, will cease publication after February 15. Daily book reviews will still be published in the Style section.

Update: The rumors have been confirimed. According to the report, the section's essays will now be divided between the Outlook section and the Sunday Style & Arts section of the newspaper. The Book World section will still exist online.

Last week rumors flew (and were denied) that the Washington Post could close the section, and the National Book Critics Circle has created an online petition to support the publication.

Here's more from the NBCC report: "The promise is that there will be four additional broadsheet pages in Outlook for book coverage and one additional page in Style & Arts. That's an equivalent of 12 tabloid pages. (Book World is 16 pages.) Jonathan Yardley's reviews will appear in Outlook. Michael Dirda's will appear in Style. The staff of Book World will be kept together under the editorship of Rachel Shea." (Via LitKicks)