75 years on, Scribners Magazine loses apostrophe and comes back online

Everything old is  new again, so it seems. A venerable, long-departed magazine Scribner's (a rival in the day for The Atlantic and Harper's), which last published in 1939, is being revived, more or less, as the online literary website Scribner Magazine. According to the Speakeasy blog from the Wall Street Journal, the intention of the publishing house Scribner (a division of Simon & Schuster) in reviving it is not to create digital equivalent of its old self, but rather to be a site about authors and their books. 

Many publishers these days are looking for new ways to connect directly with readers. Nan Graham, senior vice president and publisher of Scribner, said she wanted to offer readers a behind-the-curtain peek at writers’ lives, answering the questions that come up again and again at readings: “What do you read? How do you write? What’s the origin of the book?”

“We’re trying to respond to that appetite,” she said. “I’ve wanted to do something with the old Scribner’s Magazine for a long time because it was such an important part of the culture.”

The site will be updated weekly and will feature author essays, archival photographs, reviews by booksellers and author-curated playlists as well as book excerpts in text and audio. The site will feature many Scribner authors, but not exclusively. In an opening salvo from the editors:

"We are reviving Scribner Magazine for the digital age, with the intent to pull back the curtain, to reveal a more intimate look at writers and publishers: where writers work, the music they listen to, the seeds of their books, what they talk about with other writers, even what they cook and how they parent; how editors edit; the role of the art director, the book designer, the sales rep; what booksellers are reading. Every month there will be a story or chapter read out loud by its author. We will feature writing that you might have missed, and new writing from authors throughout the literary community. 

"Scribner Magazine: for behind-the-scenes insights on reading, on writing, on living."