''San Francisco Review of Books'' (''SFRB'') was a book review periodical published from the mid-1970s to 1997 in the

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 Gov ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Founding editor-publisher

Ronald Nowicki Ronald Nowicki is an American author and magazine editor. Life In April 1975 Nowicki founded the ''San Francisco Review of Books'', which was published in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1997. The ''SFRB'' began as a magazine and later adopted a ...

launched his publication April 1975, a time when the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'' depended on the wire services for its reviews. ''SFRB'' began as a magazine and later adopted a

tabloid format A tabloid is a newspaper with a compact page size smaller than broadsheet. There is no standard size for this newspaper format. Etymology The word ''tabloid'' comes from the name given by the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs We ...

. In addition to the reviews and coverage of San Francisco's small press scene, ''SFRB'' offered interviews with such authors as

Eric Ambler Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for bo ...

Ann Beattie Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the short story f ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and ...

John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...

Herbert Gold Herbert Gold (born March 9, 1924) is an American novelist. Early life Gold was born on March 9, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, in to a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Frankel) Gold. His father ran a fruit store and later ...

Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...

Jerzy Kosinski Jerzy is the Polish version of the masculine given name George. The most common nickname for Jerzy is Jurek (), which may also be used as an official first name. Occasionally the nickname Jerzyk may be used, which means "swift" in Polish. Peopl ...

William Kotzwinkle William Kotzwinkle (born November 22, 1943) is an American novelist, children's writer, and screenwriter. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for ''Doctor Rat'' in 1977, and has also won ...

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi- autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical re ...

, and

Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, ''The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...

Contributors

The roster of ''SFRB'' contributors included Alice Adams, Carolyn Burke,

Alexander Chee Alexander Chee (born August 21, 1967) is an American fiction writer, poet, journalist and reviewer. Born in Rhode Island, he spent his childhood in South Korea, Kauai, Truk, Guam and Maine. He attended Wesleyan University and the Iowa Writers' ...

Peter Dreyer Peter Richard Dreyer (born November 15, 1939, at Caledon in the Western Cape) is a South African American writer. He is the author of ''A Beast in View'' (London: André Deutsch), ''The Future of Treason'' (New York: Ballantine), ''A Gardener Touc ...

(interview with Henry Miller in the February 1977 issue),

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

, Thomas Gladysz, Stephen Greenblatt, Pam Houston,

Diane Johnson Diane Johnson (born Diane Lain, April 28, 1934), is an American novelist and essayist whose satirical novels often feature American heroines living abroad in contemporary France. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel ''Persian ...

, Emily Leider, Michael McDonagh, Leonard Michaels, Steven Moore,

Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is '' M ...

and Mary Elizabeth Williams. In addition to his editor's column,

Nowicki Nowicki ( ; feminine: Nowicka; plural: Nowiccy) is a Polish and Jewish surname. It comes from place names such as Nowice, which are derived from the Polish adjective nowy ("new"). The surname is somewhat more frequent in central Poland. It has m ...

also wrote occasional reviews.

Susie Bright Susannah Bright (born March 25, 1958) is an American feminist, author, journalist, critic, editor, publisher, producer, and performer, often on the subject of politics and sexuality. She is the recipient of the 2017 Humanist Feminist Award, and ...

was a columnist from 1992 to 1994. When 27-year-old

Wendy Lesser Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

, with no editing experience, was a guest editor in 1980, she found the experience so rewarding that three months later she launched her own publication, '' The Threepenny Review''. ''SFRB'' received little funding and had no backers, so it relied 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 for financial support. Despite the limited funding, ''SFRB'' was published regularly under Nowicki's editorship until the late 1980s. When it was sold in 1989, Nowicki was retained as the editor for one year until a successor was installed. The publication continued well into the late 1990s with various owners, while

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 officiall ...

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

'', ''

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

'', ''

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 at ...

'' and other publications. Nowicki has been active in the Polish communities in San Francisco and London, where he currently lives.Mercury House: ''Warsaw: The Cabaret Years''

References

{{reflist

External links

City College of San Francisco: Rosenberg Library Periodical Department
1975 establishments in California 1997 disestablishments in California Magazines established in 1975 Magazines disestablished in 1997 Book review magazines Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Magazines published in San Francisco San Francisco Bay Area literature Monthly magazines published in the United States

Contributors

Archives

See also

References

External links