Biblioracle: Esquire’s writing about books is smart without being only for the literati

When it comes to the history of American literature, there are few, if any bigger names than Esquire magazine.

Under the off-and-on fiction editorship of legendary editor Rust Hills from the ‘50s to the ‘90s, Esquire was the first or among the first to publish writers like Norman Mailer, John Cheever, Ann Beattie, Annie Proulx and Richard Ford. The magazine gave a home to the New Journalism of Tom Wolfe and others.

In recent years, like a lot of other general interest magazines and other print media, Esquire has published less and less original fiction and book-related content. But lately, that’s been changing, and I wanted to find out how and why.

I had the chance recently to email editor Adrienne Westenfeld a series of questions about what’s been going on at the magazine.

Having come to Esquire in 2016 at the age of 23, following a stint at Town & Country, Westenfeld gravitated toward covering books and editing literary writers, until being named books and fiction editor in the summer of 2022. She’s been given a mandate by editor-in-chief Michael Sebastian to build this “core part of Esquire’s mission” in a way that meets the needs of contemporary audiences.

I contacted Westenfeld because I realized I was suddenly seeing lots of book-related Esquire content pop up on my radar. Some of it was clearly the kind of thing pitched for the social media age, e.g., actor Chris Pine’s list of favorite books, or “The 50 Best Biographies of All Time” (guaranteed to launch a thousand online debates), but the material also included much longer reported pieces that felt like a throwback to the days when books were treated like a coequal branch of the culture to music, movies and television.

This includes long, reported interviews like Adam Morgan’s visit to the home of superstar fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson. A recent feature piece by Erin Somers on her “wild weekend at the Philip Roth festival” felt like a nod to Tom Wolfe’s on-the-ground New Journalism narratives mixed with a more contemporary point-of-view.

Westenfeld told me that “Esquire’s incredible literary heritage” as a place to find new voices and “using fiction as a unique way for a magazine to understand and illuminate our times” are never far from her mind, but she is also cognizant of creating a space that represents a diversity of voices that has perhaps not always been present in Esquire’s pages.

There are author interviews, a book club, “best of” lists and even original fiction, including recent stories by Jess Walter, Brandon Taylor and Catherine Lacey. There’s coverage of literary fiction, horror, fantasy, science fiction, nonfiction, memoir. It is writing about books that is smart and goes beyond the listicle without being only for the literati.

I think what I’m seeing is an illustration of the importance of an editor who brings a particular sensibility to the act of curating the writing for the benefit of the audience. In an age where so much of what we’re exposed to online seems to have been reduced into an indistinguishable morass of “content,” what I’ve been reading in the Esquire books section gives off the distinct impression of having been worked on by human beings.

Westenfeld has more stuff planned going forward, including the 2nd annual Summer Fiction Week, a “digital reinvention” of the magazine’s Summer Reading Issues of the ‘80s and ‘90s. She’s also thinking of ways to connect readers with their favorite writers and doing more unique long-form work you won’t find elsewhere.

I, for one, will be paying attention.

John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”

Twitter @biblioracle

Book recommendations from the Biblioracle

John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.

1. “The Candy House” by Jennifer Egan

2. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin

3. “The Marriage Portrait” by Maggie O’Farrell

4. “Less is Lost” by Andrew Sean Greer

5. “Pineapple Street” by Jenny Jackson

— Patricia P., Chicago

I’m going back to the start of Barbara Kingsolver’s career when she wrote a touching little novel that has since come to be considered a classic, “The Bean Trees.”

1. “The Brief History of the Dead” by Kevin Brockmeier

2. “No One Left to Come Looking for You” by Sam Lipsyte

3. “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace

4. “Bad Monkey” by Carl Hiaasen

5. “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” by Christopher Moore

— Mitch P., Indianapolis

There’s a sly humor to several of these titles, but also some weighty themes, so that brings to mind Don DeLillo’s “White Noise.”

1. “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl

2. “Night” by Elie Wiesel

3. “Going After Cacciato” by Tim O’Brien

4. “The Crying of Lot 49″ by Thomas Pynchon

5. “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates

— William T., New York City

OK, heavy dark night of the soul stuff going on here. I’m going to honor William’s orientation toward characters in struggle, but also choose a book that injects some levity into the situation, “A Fan’s Notes” by Frederick Exley.

Get a reading from the Biblioracle

Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to [email protected]