Joel Stein et al get new LAT columns

To: The Staff

From: Andres Martinez, Editorial Page Editor

I am thrilled to announce that Sonni Efron is joining the opinion pages as the articles editor of the Op-Ed page. Sonni brings to the job a wealth of knowledge and talent. She has excelled as the newspaper's foreign policy correspondent, and as a correspondent in Tokyo, Moscow and Orange County. Sonni will remain based in the Washington bureau, and in addition to working with Op-Ed Editor Nick Goldberg on his page, she will also write editorials from time to time.

Dan Turner, who has ably served as assistant editorial page editor since the spring of 2004 will now become an editorial writer, focusing on regional transportation issues, global development and plenty of other topics in between. Dan is a graceful, thoughtful writer who has been the driving force behind this year's impressive series of editorials on malaria.

This fall, Gregory Rodriguez, a longtime contributor to our pages, has been the first visiting fellow to the editorial board, writing editorials and enriching the board's deliberations. Next month, Gregory will begin writing a weekly column on the Op-Ed page. Los Angeles-based essayist Meghan Daum will also begin writing a weekly column, and Joel Stein, who has been writing a Hollywood-themed column in the Sunday Current section, will migrate to the Op-Ed page to write a general-interest column.

There are two openings on the editorial board: the assistant editor slot and a writing position. We are considering a number of strong candidates already, but please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in being considered for either job.