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Literary Magazine BookForum to End its Run

"We are very proud of the contribution Bookforum has made to the literary world, and are extremely thankful to the advertisers, subscribers, and bookstores who have made our mission possible over the years."
on Dec 13, 2022

It was announced on Monday by the literary magazine Bookforum that the current edition would be the last. This was a major setback for literary journalism, which has drastically declined in recent years.

After announcing its demise, Bookforum wrote on Twitter, "We are very proud of the contribution Bookforum has made to the literary world, and are extremely thankful to the advertisers, subscribers, and bookstores who have made our mission possible over the years."

One of the few remaining book-focused periodicals, Bookforum published a combination of reviews, essays, and interviews. Interviews with authors like Jhumpa Lahiri and Marlon James, as well as studies on Philip Roth and George Saunders, were among the items it has published throughout the years.

With the recent release of several new publications, like The Drift and Forever Magazine, so-called "small" magazines—independent and noncommercial journals, sometimes with circulation in the low four figures—are going through a resurgence. National heritage periodicals supported by companies are moreover fighting for survival at a time of consolidation.

The Washington Post Journal has announced that its final issue will be released at the end of December, while Astra Magazine, an international magazine of literature produced by Astra Publishing House, ended publishing earlier this year after two issues. (Book World, The Post's books section, has lately made a comeback, though.)

Penske Media Corporation this week bought Bookforum and its sister journal, Artforum. When questioned about the decision to close Bookforum, Penske remained silent. The editor of Artforum, David Velasco, announced that the publication will carry on as usual.

According to Kate Koza, who is the associate publisher at both Bookforum and Artforum and will remain at Artforum, access to the archives will remain available on the Bookforum website for the foreseeable future.

As one of the few remaining locations where authors might still aspire to obtain an in-depth review, Bookforum was a crucial platform for both authors and freelance book reviewers.

According to Kaitlin Phillips, a writer, and publicist whose first print byline was in Bookforum, "I think it's bad for young authors especially." She said that journals like Harper's, The London Review of Books, and The New York Review of Books were "the first stop on a train that finishes" at the magazine. "I also feel bad for the tiny publishers who depend on Bookforum's ongoing support of their books."

The magazine's closing will be a major loss for small, independent, and academic publications that used it as a platform, according to Janique Vigier, an editor at independent publisher Semiotext (e).

Because most of the time working in publishing at that level is a labor of love and a vow of poverty, Vigier said it "added this nobility to what you do."

In an email, Lydia Kiesling, author of "The Golden State" and former editor of the literary journal The Millions, noted that Bookforum had a reputation for serious yet elegant long-form reviews.

She commented, "There are so few critical formats left, it was a joy to have my work recognized seriously in one." "Media consolidation is a calamity for authors since it is destroying the ecosphere of letters."

Established authors who regularly receive reviews will continue to do so, according to Hafizah Augustus Geter, author of the memoir "The Black Period," and literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit, but the closure of the magazine would have a greater impact on new writers, queer writers, and writers of color.

Namara Smith, a former editor at the magazine who now works for The New Yorker, claimed that Bookforum pushed editors to try new things and take risks.

She said that every time they published an issue, she and a coworker would remark to one another about how they couldn't believe they were still permitted to publish the magazine. There was a constant sense that we were getting away with something.