Kirkus Reviews is an American
book reviewA book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review could be a primary source opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review. It is often carried out in periodicals, as school work, or on the internet. Reviews are also often...
magazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980).
Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers.
Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month. Reviews appear two to four months prior to a book's publication; the periodical features approximately 4,500 titles per year: fiction, mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, translations, nonfiction and children's and young-adult (YA) books.
Initially titled the
Bulletin, the title was changed to
Bulletin from Virginia Kirkus' Service with the January 1, 1955, issue and successively shortened to
Virginia Kirkus' Service with the December 15, 1964, issue and
Kirkus Service in 1967 before attaining its definitive title of
Kirkus Reviews with the January 1, 1969, issue. During the period April 15, 1985-July 15, 1991, it was known as
Jim Kobak's Kirkus Reviews.
Kirkus was published by Kirkus' (Virginia) Bookshop Service from 1933 to 1954, Virginia Kirkus' Service from 1955 to 1966, and Kirkus Service starting in 1967.
BPI CommunicationsBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, owned by Dutch publisher VNU, bought
Kirkus from longtime owner David LeBreton in 1999. VNU was renamed the Nielsen Company in 2006. At the end of 2009, the company announced the end of operations for
Kirkus. The journal was purchased from the Nielsen Company on February 10, 2010 by businessman
Herbert SimonHerbert Simon is an American real estate magnate. He lives in Indiana and is a billionaire. He was educated at the City College of New York. He is the owner of the Indiana Pacers, and chairman emeritus of the shopping mall developer Simon Property Group. In 2010 he purchased Kirkus...
. Simon is the owner of the NBA's
Indiana PacersThe Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
, co-owner of independent bookstore Telecote Books in
MontecitoMontecito may refer to:*Montecito, California, a census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, California* Montecito , the codename used to designate a revision of the Intel Itanium 2 processor...
, California, US, and a shopping mall developer. Terms were not disclosed. Since then it has been operated by Kirkus Media, an affiliate of Calendar Holdings, which has retail operations throughout the English-speaking world. Kirkus Media is led by Marc Winkelman, a book-industry veteran who is CEO of Calendar Holdings.
See also
- ForeWord
ForeWord is a trade journal published six times yearly with the tagline, “Reviews of Good Books Independently Published.” The magazine is distributed primarily to librarians and booksellers to familiarize them with upcoming books from small, independent, and university presses, as well as...
- Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
- Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
- San Francisco Review of Books
San Francisco Review of Books was a book review periodical published from the mid-1970s to 1997 in the Bay Area. Founding editor-publisher Ronald Nowicki launched his publication April 1975, a time when the San Francisco Chronicle depended on the wire services for its reviews...