Philly Gets Two New Glossies to Love

Philadelphia is a city that loves its print. With new indie bookshops popping up and a good number of niche regional publications and literary magazines, it has a well-earned rep as a city in which print thrives.

Now, according to Max Marin writing in Billy Penn, you can add to more titles to the bounty that is print in Philadelphia – Root Quarterly and dosage MAGAZINE.

“There is no reason why Philadelphia can’t have its own New Yorker-style magazine that is eclectic but also a cohesive whole,” Heather Shayne Blakeslee, Root Quarterly’s editor-in-chief, wrote in an email. According to Marin, the magazine will have local features, and also dive into stories with a broader interest.

“The first issue contains an essay on a 70-year-old woman’s journey through chronic pain into the age of medical marijuana. There’s also a political analysis entitled ‘No, Liberal Lefties Are Not Right-Wing,’” Marin writes. He notes that the publisher’s intention is for people to look to this magazine as an object d’art, something readers “would collect and leave out on their coffee table.”

“We’re doing this magazine for Gen Xers and boomers who we know still love print,” Blakeslee added. “I think the millennials will come along, too. We want this to be intergenerational.”

Another locally oriented title is dosage MAGAZINE, from Germantown’s Allan Lane. The print MAGAZINE is an off-shoot of their current dosage online content.

“The magazine will publish in-depth exclusives for the print project,” Marin explains. “Similar to Root, he says he’s investing in high-quality production to make the magazine a collector’s item — something that would appeal to an outside audience who wanted to look in at Philly.”

These two titles are tangible evidence at the intersection of two current trends – the strength of regional titles and tangibly beautiful print as a collectible. If you live in the area, start watching for these two titles and show them some love.