November 2019
Dear Reader,
We've been around a long time, since 2002, and we just celebrated our 100th issue.
Bookmarks magazine was the brainchild of Jon Phillips and Alison Nelson, who envisioned a magazine for book lovers: readers who spend countless hours combing bookshelves, clipping book reviews, and studying author biographies and reading lists. Jon and Alison searched high and low for a comprehensive source they could trust for literary advice and pictured a research team hard at work for them: summarizing book reviews, highlighting the best works of classic and contemporary authors, presenting books in different genres and on different topics, and uncovering everyday readers’ favorite books. They looked everywhere, but that team, that one source, that dream magazine, didn’t exist.
So they created it, and that editorial team become a reality. I was fortunate to join Jon and Allison with issue #2, and I’ve helped lead that team ever since.
We weren’t even available on the newsstand when major newspaper critics hailed the magazine, saying “it’s about time” and that our unique approach would “put us over the top" (San Francisco Chronicle). Just nine months later, Library Journal proclaimed us a “Best New Magazine of 2002.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called us "the kind of publication book readers should love.”
Kurt Vonnegut weighed in as well to rave, “I am beguiled by your physical beauty, and I am moved by how head-over-heels in love with books you are. And nowhere else have I found such thoughtful and literate reportage on the state of the American soul, as that soul makes itself known in the books we write.”
Yes, that Kurt Vonnegut. And we still talk about it.
Here we are today, 17 years later, thriving amid an Internet age where physical books and bookstores are falling out of fashion. We remain a small miracle for readers who enjoy picking up a good, old-fashioned, glossy magazine, dog-earing the top of a particular page, and returning to it later to peruse and enjoy ... and read.
Thank you, Jon, for your amazing leadership over the past 17 years, for the love you put into the magazine, and for taking it to where it is today. As I take over the magazine, rest assured that all the good parts will remain the same.
Take a look at some of our back issues. They’ll give you an idea of how we celebrate books: with intelligence and enthusiasm. We remain the best source of ideas for your reading list. There are so many books and so little time, so won’t you let us help you find the best books? That way, you can save your reading time ... for reading.
Best,
Jessica Teisch, PhD
Editor & Publisher
2625 Alcatraz Avenue, #362
Berkeley, CA 94705
Dear Reader,
We've been around a long time, since 2002, and we just celebrated our 100th issue.
Bookmarks magazine was the brainchild of Jon Phillips and Alison Nelson, who envisioned a magazine for book lovers: readers who spend countless hours combing bookshelves, clipping book reviews, and studying author biographies and reading lists. Jon and Alison searched high and low for a comprehensive source they could trust for literary advice and pictured a research team hard at work for them: summarizing book reviews, highlighting the best works of classic and contemporary authors, presenting books in different genres and on different topics, and uncovering everyday readers’ favorite books. They looked everywhere, but that team, that one source, that dream magazine, didn’t exist.
So they created it, and that editorial team become a reality. I was fortunate to join Jon and Allison with issue #2, and I’ve helped lead that team ever since.
We weren’t even available on the newsstand when major newspaper critics hailed the magazine, saying “it’s about time” and that our unique approach would “put us over the top" (San Francisco Chronicle). Just nine months later, Library Journal proclaimed us a “Best New Magazine of 2002.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called us "the kind of publication book readers should love.”
Kurt Vonnegut weighed in as well to rave, “I am beguiled by your physical beauty, and I am moved by how head-over-heels in love with books you are. And nowhere else have I found such thoughtful and literate reportage on the state of the American soul, as that soul makes itself known in the books we write.”
Yes, that Kurt Vonnegut. And we still talk about it.
Here we are today, 17 years later, thriving amid an Internet age where physical books and bookstores are falling out of fashion. We remain a small miracle for readers who enjoy picking up a good, old-fashioned, glossy magazine, dog-earing the top of a particular page, and returning to it later to peruse and enjoy ... and read.
Thank you, Jon, for your amazing leadership over the past 17 years, for the love you put into the magazine, and for taking it to where it is today. As I take over the magazine, rest assured that all the good parts will remain the same.
Take a look at some of our back issues. They’ll give you an idea of how we celebrate books: with intelligence and enthusiasm. We remain the best source of ideas for your reading list. There are so many books and so little time, so won’t you let us help you find the best books? That way, you can save your reading time ... for reading.
Best,
Jessica Teisch, PhD
Editor & Publisher
2625 Alcatraz Avenue, #362
Berkeley, CA 94705
Here's our letter from Kurt Vonnegut, who wrote in after we profiled him and his books in one of our very first issues.
