Bookforum is Returning, Months After its Closure Was Mourned in the Literary World
The literary criticism magazine “Book Forum”, which caused a commotion in the literary world and was suspended in December, will be republished in August with a new publishing partner, The Nation.
The reopening of the book forums announced on Thursday marks a return to good form, said Bhaskar Sunkara, chairman of The Nation, which began negotiations in the spring. Book Forum will continue to be a quarterly print publication with the same branding and aesthetics, led by the staff at the time of its closure, he added. A longtime contributor has signed on to write the relaunch issue.
“I have always known that this is a rather unique medium, one that pays attention to many contemporary trends and competing publications in a way that older literary publications did not.” said Sankara, who started reading book forums in college. When he started the Jacobin magazine. “The economics of relaunching seemed feasible, especially when supported by the existing publication infrastructure.”
The Bookforum team said they are confident The Nation is the right partner. “They know how to run a magazine,” says Book Forum editor-in-chief Michael Miller. “Busker himself has been involved in a number of magazines, and ‘The Nation’ has been around since 1865.”
Book Forums have long been known as places where up-and-coming talent is given the freedom to develop their own voices. “I love when someone discovers something and the reader follows along,” said Miller. Notable critics who have contributed to Book Forum include former Times critic Parul Segar, now of The New Yorker, and New York Magazine’s Andrea Long Chu, winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
The news of Book Forum’s closure comes days after its sister magazine, Art Forum, was acquired by Penske Media Corporation.
Sankara said the main difference between the old and new Book Forum would be the revenue model. This magazine was launched by him in 1994 as a quarterly supplement to Art Forum. Sankara said the new book forum will continue to rely on advertising sales as part of its business model, but that it “needs to develop a much larger direct subscription base.”
Sankara dismissed the notion that print magazines, especially niche literary magazines, are unprofitable.
“We need to work tenaciously to make these institutions sustainable on their own,” he said. “These organizations simply cannot be profitable or cannot find enough people to sustainably publish a quarterly magazine in a country of 330 million people and in a much larger language market. It’s a bit defeatist to say.”
Book Forum publishes substantial literary coverage and remains editorially independent from The Nation, which is known for commissioning literary writers to cover the “politics of the day,” said The Nation’s editorial director and publisher. said Katrina van den Hubel of Walter Mosley and Tony Kushner are on the editorial advisory board.
“‘The Nation’ is a very political publication and does an excellent job with its book and art covers,” said Sankara. “On the other hand, Book Forum is clearly a literary publication, with writers and editors who are conscious of political engagement.”
Triggered by news of book forum closing thousands of Many readers mourn the loss. Sankara said the restart would be “a second chance for all of us.”
