Editor and writer

Hi, I’m John. I am the nonfiction editor of Kirkus Reviews.

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I served as the books editor of the San Francisco Chronicle for a decade and, most recently, I was an independent book editor, a senior editor of the literary journal Zyzzyva, an editor for McSweeney’s Publishing, and a contributing editor of the quarterly literary travel magazine Stranger’s Guide.

 

​My writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Literary Hub. I also wrote the introduction to Literary Journeys: Mapping Fictional Travels across the World of Literature, which Princeton University Press will publish on Sept. 10, 2024. 

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I am the recipient of the Friend of Independent Bookselling Award, from the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, as well as the Northern California Book Reviewers’ Recognition Award. I have also served on the jury panels of One City One Book: San Francisco Reads and the Commonwealth Club’s California Book Awards.

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I have taught as well: In 2019 and 2020, I led classes in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at the University of San Francisco.

 

In 2023 and 2024, I completed two personal book-themed projects. One is a book-donation project—the Kenneth Baker Library—that I created in memory of a friend, the art critic Kenneth Baker. The other is an interactive manuscript of World War I memoirs that were written by my French grandfather; I paired his writing with scores of photographs that he took during the war, adding an online map that charts the many places where he was as a soldier.

 

In my introduction to my grandfather’s memoirs, I quote the English writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who wrote, “There is no past, so long as books shall live.” I agree with the sentiment, and I feel privileged to be a part of this ever-expanding world of books.​

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