World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok

Summary

“Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, Harold Bloom and James Wood. And now you?” “Oh, I mean, that’s pretty crazy to hear, but I don’t know.” Dr Johnson never filmed a “spicy books with cartoon covers” vlog. But Jack Edwards cannot quite deny being the most important literary critic in the world. In commercial terms, he certainly is. A nod from him fills bathtubs, train carriages and public parks with copies of a book he likes. Booksellers buy and arrange their stock to his taste. And he is not confined to new releases. When he dug up an obscure Dostoevsky (White Nights), his positive review moved it from cellars to shop windows instantaneously. I first met him for this interview around the time of the 2024 International Booker Prize. He had been asked to host the ceremony – and to livestream it. I watched him cruise up the red carpet, encircled by cameras and attendants. Edwards is a literary tastemaker, but not in the familiar mode. You will not find any submissions of his languishing in the LRB slush pile. Instead he posts on BookTok and BookTube, the social media planes concerned with reading, where millions of viewers watch videos about books. At first, BookTok was confined to the lonely bedrooms of coronavirus lockdowns. Now it has stalls at the Hay Festival and the National Literacy Trust. Waterstones has “BookTok made me buy it” tables. New year, new read. Save 40% off an annual subscription this January. Edwards is the foremost star of these platforms. Per his bio, he is the “internet’s resident librarian”. He is 27 years old and, on YouTube, has 1.5 million subscribers and 158 million views – which is roughly 16 and 1,755 Wembley Stadiums respectively. He is conventionally handsome, and excitable and sensitive in manner. He started YouTube while at secondary school in Brighton. His first videos were “day in the life” vlogs, study tips and A-level results reactions. The boom came when he progressed to Durham University to study literature. His atmospheric recor...