New York Review Books: Background information when reading Loved and Missed

New York Review Books

This article relates to Loved and Missed

Susie Boyt's Loved and Missed was first published in the United Kingdom in 2021; two years later, it has been published in the United States by New York Review Books, which specializes in both contemporary literature and obscure classics and embodies what it calls an "eclectic, adventurous spirit."

Since 1999, New York Review Books has existed as the publishing division of the literary periodical The New York Review of Books, which releases 20 issues annually. Founded by editors Robert Silvers and Barbara Epstein in 1963, the independent publication has been dubbed by Esquire "the premier literary-intellectual magazine in the English language."

The oldest New York Review Books imprint is NYRB Classics, which launched with a reprint of Richard Hughes's A High Wind in Jamaica and has now published over 500 titles. It focuses on backlist gems and works newly available in English translation. Some notable releases are Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, The Door by Magda Szabó, Stoner by John Williams, Chess Story by Stefan Zweig, The Radiance of the King by Camera Laye, Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang, and The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares.

There are four further imprints: the main New York Review Books series, which publishes contemporary fiction and nonfiction (Boyt's novel falls under this one); NYRB Kids, a mixture of out-of-print children's classics and new or translated books; NYRB Poets, which publishes an international selection of classic and contemporary poetry; and New York Review Comics, which features a wide range of graphic works.

Publications by New York Review Books specialize in the same subjects covered by the periodical — literature and the arts, history, philosophy, and science — and are often written by regular contributors.

As physical objects, NYRB Classics are almost instantly recognizable for their covers. Graphic designer Katy Homans created the trademark NYRB Classics appearance, which involves solid-color spines; sans serif fonts for the title and author, enclosed in a text box on the cover; and striking photographs or paintings. So iconic is the look that in 2016 NYRB announced a redesign as an April Fool's prank. The titles are popular among book collectors as well as discerning readers.

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This article relates to Loved and Missed. It first ran in the September 20, 2023 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.