Backstory #2
147 x 210 mm, 68 pages
London, UK
Biannual
Editor: Tom Rowley
Art director: Darrio Verengia
Cover art: María Corte
‘For book lovers’
A sweet new title celebrating books, bookshops and the joys of reading, Backstory launched last year an extension of ex-journalist Tom Rowley's eponymous independent bookshop in South London (which also happens to be one of Jeremy’s local joints!)
It’s a welcome addition to the shop, beginning to fill a Happy Reader-shaped hole on the shelves with its mix of columns, witty literary tidbits and relevant features on the financial side of BookTok, writing erotica, New Yorker journalist Ed Caesar’s double life as a DJ, and Penguin’s fight against censorship in the US, beautifully illustrated on the cover.
And with Tom’s dual role as editor and bookseller, there are also traces of the bookshop in the magazine—this issue opens with gossip ‘good enough to make it into the Backstory group chat’ as well as a map of ‘extremely specific book recs’ from the shop staff.
On the Journal
At work with Tom Rowley: ‘When I was seven or eight, I used to go to the garage every Sunday morning and spend my pocket money on The Sunday Times. Then I’d spread all the supplements out in my room and sell them—at a premium—to my parents. Looking back, I guess it’s pretty obvious that I would grow up to be either a journalist or a business person. Or, as it turns out, both.’
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