Bookforum is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature. After announcing that it would cease publication in December 2022,[2][3][4][5] it reported its relaunch under the direction of The Nation magazine six months later.[6]
 | |
 Bookforum cover April/May 2010 | |
| Editor | Michael Miller |
|---|---|
| Former editors |
|
| Categories | Literature, culture |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Circulation | 60,000[when?] |
| Publisher | Bhaskar Sunkara |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Company | 1865 Publications LLC |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City, New York |
| Language | English |
| Website | bookforum |
| ISSN | 1098-3376 |
| OCLC | 757565508 |
History
Based in New York City, New York, the magazine was launched in 1994 as a literary supplement to Artforum. Originally published biannually, it became a quarterly in 1998, and since 2005, Bookforum has published five times a year in February, April, June, September, and December.
Describing the magazine to The Village Voice in 2003, former editor (2003–2008) Eric Banks said that the magazine targets a demographic "like the New York Review's but much younger. I think there is an audience of intellectual readers between 25 and 40 out there – the kind of person who buys The New Republic, The Nation, and The New York Review of Books, but doesn't have an allegiance to a particular publication."[7]
In addition to publishing book reviews, essays and current-events columns, the magazine regularly features interviews with authors, including:
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Martin Amis
- John Ashbery
- John Barth
- A. S. Byatt
- Jerome Charyn
- Lydia Davis
- Umberto Eco
- Mary Gaitskill
- Nadine Gordimer
- Aleksandar Hemon
- Amy Hempel
- John Irving
- Jhumpa Lahiri
- Doris Lessing
- Bernard-Henri Lévy
- Alan Moore
- Lorrie Moore
- Haruki Murakami
- Cees Nooteboom
- Joyce Carol Oates
- Michael Ondaatje
- Alain Robbe-Grillet
- Salman Rushdie
- Vikram Seth
- Susan Sontag
- Muriel Spark
- Robert Stone
- Gore Vidal
- William T. Vollmann
In 2009, the magazine's website was redesigned to include a nationwide literary-events calendar, internet exclusive book reviews, two blogs — Paper Trail and Omnivore — and a section called Syllabi, which features reading lists written by authors and critics.[8]
On December 12, 2022, Bookforum announced that it would cease publication following the purchase of its companion magazine Artforum by Penske Media Corporation (PMC) earlier that month.[2][3][4][5] In June 2023, it announced it would return in August 2023 through a partnership with The Nation.[6]
Notable contributors
- J. G. Ballard, novelist and short-story writer
- John Banville, novelist and critic
- Harold Bloom, academic and critic
- Louise Bourgeois, artist
- A. S. Byatt, novelist and poet
- Billy Collins, poet
- Dennis Cooper, writer, editor and artist
- Lydia Davis, short-story writer and translator
- Stacey D'Erasmo, novelist
- Michael Dirda, critic
- Geoff Dyer, novelist and critic
- Gerald Early, writer and academic
- Jennifer Egan, novelist and short-story writer
- Dave Eggers, writer and publisher
- Richard Ford, novelist and short-story writer
- Mary Gaitskill, novelist and short-story writer
- William H. Gass, writer
- Keith Gessen, co-founder of literary magazine n+1
- Thelma Golden, curator
- Nan Goldin, photographer
- Kim Gordon, artist and musician
- Germaine Greer, writer and academic
- Richard Hell, writer and musician
- Amy Hempel, short-story writer
- Sheila Heti, novelist
- bell hooks, author and activist
- Maureen Howard, novelist
- Travis Jeppesen, novelist and critic
- Wayne Koestenbaum, poet and critic
- Barbara Kruger, artist
- Hari Kunzru, novelist and journalist
- Jonathan Lethem, novelist
- Phillip Lopate, film critic and writer
- Naguib Mahfouz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Greil Marcus, music journalist and critic
- Patrick McGrath, writer and academic
- Daphne Merkin, critic
- Stephin Merritt, musician
- D. A. Miller, academic and critic
- Toril Moi, academic
- Rick Moody, novelist
- Michael Musto, columnist
- Glenn O'Brien, editor and critic
- Marjorie Perloff, critic
- Caryl Phillips, novelist
- Matthew Price, journalist
- Francine Prose, novelist
- Salman Rushdie, novelist and essayist
- Andrew Solomon, writer
- Christopher Sorrentino, novelist
- Lorin Stein, editor and critic
- Lynne Tillman, novelist, short-story writer and critic
- Colm Tóibín, novelist and critic
- William T. Vollmann, novelist and journalist
- Sarah Vowell, writer and journalist
- Rebecca Walker, writer and activist
- Michael Wood, academic
- Adam Zagajewski, poet and essayist
