Earlier today GalleyCat reported on Creative Loafing Media's bankruptcy news. The company owns Chicago Reader, Washington City Paper, and several more alternative weeklies--papers that provide arts coverage for countless readers around the country.

Mark Athitakis, the Arts Editor at Washington City Paper, responded to that post with a report on how his book coverage has weathered the crisis. Here are his thoughts:

"Just to be clear: Though our corporate owners declared bankruptcy yesterday, the lights are still on here, and we're still putting out a paper. This week's issue, in fact, will have a brief preview of Lynda Barry's upcoming appearance and a review of Jose Saramago's latest. Not a lot, I know, but I try to squeeze in what we can.

"It's true that I don't have deep pockets for book reviews---I never really did--but nobody's yet told me to stop running them. I've written a little more about this for Critical Mass. This ran before the recent turmoil, but the general points still apply."

According to Athitakis, the next issue's book coverage will go live next Tuesday night at this link.