Benjamin Samuel - Editor
With deep roots in the indie publishing industry, I'm passionate about helping writers refine and share their stories.
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Overview
I've worked in the publishing world for over a decade, and I've had the opportunity to explore all sides of the industry, from editorial to production and marketing. Whether I'm proofreading or sharing structural notes, I'm a collaborative and supportive editor eager to work with writers at all stages of the careers.
I'm currently the Managing Editor of BOMB Magazine's print quarterly, where I've edited short fiction, essays, and interviews featuring Lydia Davis, Danielle Evans, Rufus Wainwright, C Pam Zhang, and Wendy S. Walters. I teach writing at Columbia University, and I'm the co-chair of the Brooklyn Book Festival's fiction committee.
While finishing my MFA at Brooklyn College, I co-founded and edited Electric Literature's "Recommended Reading," a weekly fiction magazine that publishes work from new and established authors. After serving as the Director of Programs for the National Book Foundation for several years, I became the Managing Editor of Restless Books and where I edited novels in translation. I've also done freelance work for numerous organizations, including Archipelago Books, NY Parks, and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
I'm committed to helping authors refine their narratives so that their stories can resonate in the world as clearly and profoundly as they resonate in their own minds.
I'm currently the Managing Editor of BOMB Magazine's print quarterly, where I've edited short fiction, essays, and interviews featuring Lydia Davis, Danielle Evans, Rufus Wainwright, C Pam Zhang, and Wendy S. Walters. I teach writing at Columbia University, and I'm the co-chair of the Brooklyn Book Festival's fiction committee.
While finishing my MFA at Brooklyn College, I co-founded and edited Electric Literature's "Recommended Reading," a weekly fiction magazine that publishes work from new and established authors. After serving as the Director of Programs for the National Book Foundation for several years, I became the Managing Editor of Restless Books and where I edited novels in translation. I've also done freelance work for numerous organizations, including Archipelago Books, NY Parks, and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
I'm committed to helping authors refine their narratives so that their stories can resonate in the world as clearly and profoundly as they resonate in their own minds.
Languages
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Entertainment
Humanities & Social Sciences
Nature
Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Writing & Publishing
Fiction
Literary Fiction
Short Story
Awards
- Innovations in Reading Prize
Work experience
Managing Editor
BOMB Magazine
January, 2020
–
Present
(almost 2 years)
Editing and production for BOMB Magazine's flagship print quarterly, with special oversight of literary interviews, fiction, poetry, and essays. I've commissioned and edited work by emerging and established artists and writers, including Erica Baum, Lydia Davis, Danielle Evans, Jenny Offill, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Rufus Wainwright, Wendy S. Walters, and C Pam Zhang.
Lecturer
Columbia University
January, 2019
–
Present
(almost 3 years)
Teaching creative writing and literature to medical professionals enrolled in Columbia's Narrative Medicine graduate program.
Freelance
Self-employed
October, 2018
–
Present
(about 3 years)
Marketing, communications strategy, and editorial projects for nonprofits, startups, and publishers, including the NYC Parks, Natural Areas Conservancy, Archipelago Books, Greenpoint Innovations, and the National Book Foundation.
Managing Editor
Restless Books
August, 2017
–
August, 2018
(about 1 year)
Project management, editing, communications, and fundraising for an independent publisher devoted to championing essential voices from around the world. Evaluated and edited novels, including Cuban science fiction, surreal Serbian war literature, French historical fiction, and young adult Icelandic climate fiction.
Editor
Electric Literature
August, 2009
–
May, 2014
(over 4 years)
Editing, partnership development, and social media marketing for a publisher committed to keeping literature a part of popular culture.
Co-Founder of Recommended Reading, a weekly digital literary magazine, which was fully funded on Kickstarter within 48 hours.
Managed social media including @ElectricLit, an "Essential Literary Twitter Feed" (Brooklyn Magazine) with over 172,000 followers, and increased Facebook from 8,000 to 80,000 fans.
Ran website and oversaw a team of editors and dozens of freelance writers and columnists.
Established partnerships with major and independent publishers.
Produced publicity and marketing campaigns, as well as paid campaigns for advertisers.
Portfolio (7 selected works)
Checkpoint
David Albahari
From the award-winning Serbian author David Albahari comes a devastating and Kafkaesque war fable about an army unit sent to guard a military checkpoint with no idea where they are or who the enemy might be.Atop a hill, deep in the forest, an army unit is assigned to a checkpoint. The commander doesn’t know where they are, what border they’re protecting, or why. Their map is useless and the ra... read more
Condomnauts
Yoss
“Yoss (Super Extra Grande) is an eminent Cuban SF writer who also fronts a heavy metal band; his iconoclastic spirit and rock-and-roll aesthetic are on full ingenious display in this daring, rollicking, and joyous novel…. This extended dirty joke is also an impressive science fiction novel with much to say about sex, culture, and what it means to be alien.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred ReviewIn... read more
The Boy
Marcus Malte
Winner of the prestigious Prix Femina, The Boy is an expansive and entrancing historical novel that follows a nearly feral child from the French countryside as he joins society and plunges into the torrid events of the first half of the 20th century.The boy does not speak. The boy has no name. The boy, raised half-wild in the forests of southern France, sets out alone into the wilderness and t... read more
The Casket of Time
Andri Snær Magnason
“A rose can rest in the casket for a thousand years without fading. An egg can remain there for centuries without going bad. A person could lie there for a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, completely protected from time."What happens when the world starts to fall apart, and no one will take responsibility for mending it? Sigrun’s family, along with everyone else, finds refu... read more
Saguaro
Carson Mell
Saguaro chronicles the life of rock legend Bobby Bird as he finds himself rolled up in barbiturates, at sea with satanic cults, finding true love, selling out, and coming back. Bobby Bird’s unique voice—and fistfights with Bob Dylan—place him irrevocably in America’s cultural and musical history.VICE Magazine says, “[Bobby Bird] has lived enough lives and wild times for a couple Willie Nelsons... read more
Do not let Etgar Keret deceive you. The Israeli writer who's worked in film, illustration, animation, and radio, is a storyteller in all senses of the word. Like a conman, he'll promise you a simple story and then the next thing you know your emotional reserves have been completely emptied. It's a literary bait and switch, and he'll get you every time.Here, in “Todd,” a story that also challen... read more
Rontel
Sam Pink
Sam Pink’s Rontel, the first novel from innovative publisher Electric Literature, is a love letter to Chicago that's full of unrequited affection, brimming with contempt and admiration, gratitude and spite. Subversive and shamelessly honest, Rontel is Knut Hamsun's Hunger for the millennial generation, and deserves a place among the great works of loner fiction next to Céline, Fante, Camus, an... read more
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