Womankind is an independent ad-free newsstand women's magazine distributed throughout the UK, Australia, NZ, Europe, Asia, the US, and Canada. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that it had "an initial circulation of 20,000 and is aiming to find a broad demographic of smart women interested in big ideas about philosophy, sociology and psychology.".[1] It is distributed in 3,000 news agents in Australia,[2] as well as in thousands of stores worldwide. Womankind was the best-selling item in the history of the Byron Bay Writers' Festival when it launched there in 2014[3] and is one of the world's few ad-free newsstand publications. It is produced by the team behind the world's most widely distributed philosophy magazine, New Philosopher,[4] which launched in 2013 and is available in Australia,[5] NZ, the US, Canada and the UK. Both New Philosopher and Womankind were co-founded by Zan Boag and Antonia Case, who are editors of the two publications.

Womankind
EditorAntonia Case
CategoriesWomen, Culture, Art, Design, Psychology, Fashion
FrequencyQuarterly
PublisherPoet Press
Founded2014
First issue28 July 2014
CountryWorldwide
Based inParis, France
LanguageEnglish, Korean
Websitewomankindmag.com
ISSN2203-5850

Ad-free

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The ad-free format attracted commentary from media organisations: ArtsHub noted that it had climbed steadily to the top of women's magazines to compete with Marie Claire and Vogue and describes it as "disrupting the publishing industry as it feeds the souls of a broad demographic of smart women interested in big ideas about philosophy, sociology and psychology."[6] Broadsheet describes it as "changing the concept of what a women's magazine is".[7]

Awards

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The launch cover of Womankind featured Simone de Beauvoir and was voted one of the top in the world by German media website MEEDIA;[8] in 2016 the magazine's editor Antonia Case was shortlisted for Editor of the Year in The Stack Awards 2016.[9] Earlier in 2016 Library Journal selected Womankind as one of the best magazines in the US for 2015, saying that "the distinguished contributors and artists deliver insightful and intriguing ideas via text, photography, and drawings" and that "although created predominantly by and for women, it will have much to offer independent thinkers of all genders."[10]

Contributors

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Contributors include Booker Prize winner DBC Pierre,[11] winner of the Australasian Association of Philosophy Media Professionals Award[12] and Editorial Director of New Philosopher Antonia Case,[13] Irish Book Awards winner Niamh Boyce, Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner and Miles Franklin Award shortlistee[14] Lucy Treloar,[15] Commonwealth Writers' Prize winner and Miles Franklin Award shortlistee[16] Charlotte Wood,[17] Professor of Philosophy Massimo Pigliucci, and Australian author of 40 novels and winner of the American Library Association Award for Best Historical Fiction[18] Kate Forsyth.

References

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  1. ^ "The rise of independent magazines". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 September 2014.
  2. ^ "New Philosopher's Australian operations launch Womankind". Mumbrella. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Breaking records". Byron Bay Writers' Festival. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  4. ^ Grace Wang (March 2017). "10 independent women's magazines everyone should read". Stack. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  5. ^ "New philosopher attempts launch". Mumbrella. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Serious women's mag disrupts publishing model". ArtsHub. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  7. ^ "A magazine for all womankind". Broadsheet. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  8. ^ "A new magazine with a different view". Women's Agenda. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  9. ^ "The Stack Awards 2016". Stack. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Best Magazines 2015". Library Journal. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  11. ^ "Book reviews, extracts to feature in 'Womankind' magazine". Bookseller + Publisher. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Media Professional Award".
  13. ^ "Philosophers-in-Residence". 25 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Miles Franklin Award shortlist". Miles Franklin Award.
  15. ^ "Non-fiction". Lucy Treloar.
  16. ^ "Miles Franklin Award shortlist". Miles Franklin Award.
  17. ^ "Non-fiction". Charlotte Wood.
  18. ^ "ALA Awards". ALA.
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