Ronald Nowicki is an American author and magazine editor.

Life

In April 1975 Nowicki founded the ''

San Francisco Review of Books ''San Francisco Review of Books'' (''SFRB'') was a book review periodical published from the mid-1970s to 1997 in the Bay Area, California, United States. Founding editor-publisher Ronald Nowicki launched his publication April 1975, a time when th ...

'', which was published in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

until 1997. The ''SFRB'' began as a magazine and later adopted a tabloid format. In addition to his editor's column, Nowicki also wrote occasional reviews. The ''San Francisco Review'' received little funding and had no backers, so it relied for financial support on a combination of advertising revenues, subscriptions, grants from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, and volunteers. Despite the limited funding, the ''Review'' was published regularly under Nowicki's editorship until the late 1980s. When it was sold in 1989, Nowicki was retained as editor for a year until a successor was installed. The publication continued well into the late 1990s with various owners, while Nowicki left to interview the last survivors of the

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

for his first book, ''Warsaw: The Cabaret Years'' (Mercury House, 1992), about cabaret and coffeehouse life in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, between the

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

. Nowicki's articles have appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'', ''

The North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived ...

'' and other publications. He has been active in the Polish communities of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where he currently lives.Mercury House: ''Warsaw: The Cabaret Years''

Works

*''Warsaw: The Cabaret Years'', Mercury House, 1992. *''The Elusive Madame G'' (2013), a biography of

Krystyna Skarbek Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploi ...

, aka Christine Granville

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowicki, Ronald American editors Living people Year of birth missing (living people)

Life

Works

See also

Notes