Backstory magazine

  • To subscribe to Backstory for just £13 a year, click here
  • Interested in stocking Backstory? Fill in this quick form to receive a free sample copy. (Distribution by Gardners - at your usual discount & returns terms, MMS and Seymour. Issue 2 ISBN - 9781738542710)
  • To pitch an idea for issue 3, read these guidelines
"Jaunty" - TLS 
Welcome to our new magazine for book lovers. Rather than page after page of reviews, it bursts with colour.
Published twice a year, Backstory is lively, informative – and just a little bit cheeky. Books and the places we encounter them deserve that treatment: spark and playfulness, not snobbery or hushed reverence.

I hope readers share just an ounce of the joy we have in making the thing, commissioning some of our favourite writers from Alice Winn and Stephen Bush to Ed Caesar, Hollie McNish, Julia Armfield and Sophie Mackintosh.

There’s crunch, there’s light relief and there’s a ton of book recommendations. 

On the cover of issue 2 (April-October 2024) there’s a reported feature from Penguin’s New York HQ on the company’s fightback against America’s new wave of book banning. It’s chilling and, ultimately, cheering.

As usual, my favourites are the juicy and irreverent bits. Yael van der Wouden — whose debut novel, The Safekeep, is my pick for this summer — has written a gorgeous essay on how to write good sex. And New Yorker journalist Ed Caesar has filed a delightful piece explaining why he is now full-time writer, part-time DJ.

I urge you to join us on this adventure by taking out a subscription. You’ll get the magazine on your doorstep, anywhere in the world. You can choose just to get the magazine or to let us pick out a book just for you each month, too. And it’s a great gift for your bookish friend whose TBR pile is so tall it needs planning permission.

Even better, subscribers get extra perks: a free Backstory tote bag and access to some of our biggest and best author events, which we are going to start live-streaming exclusively for subscribers in the next month or two. 

Tom

  • To subscribe to Backstory for just £13 a year, click here
  • Interested in stocking Backstory? Fill in this quick form to receive a free sample copy. (Distribution by Gardners - at your usual discount & returns terms, MMS and Seymour. Issue 2 ISBN - 9781738542710)
  • To pitch an idea for issue 3, read these guidelines

Buy a digital copy of issue 1 and start reading now