Creative Loafing (Atlanta) has named veteran Dallas reporter and editor Eric Celeste as its new editor-in-chief.
He replaces Mara Shalhoup, who left earlier this year to become editor of the Chicago Reader.
Celeste’s writing-editing career began in ’94 when he became founding editor of The Met, an arts, culture and entertainment weekly in Dallas. Over the course of the next couple decades, Celeste worked as a features editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, served as associate editor of the Dallas Observer, editor in chief of Southwest Spirit — Southwest Airlines’ in-flight magazine — and managing editor and editorial strategist for Dallas’ D Magazine.
Besides industry experience, Celeste brings with him to Atlanta loads of web savvy, enthusiasm and a propensity to randomly work movie quotes into conversation.
While at the Dallas Observer in 2005, Celeste took top honors in the Media Reporting category of the AltWeekly Awards and was featured in an AAN ‘How I Got That Story’ interview.
Since Shalhoup’s departure from Atlanta, food editor Besha Rodell and arts editor Debbie Michaud had been serving as interim co-editors.
