The dominant crowdfunding platform is called Kickstarter; kickstarting was something you did to an engine. To “kickstart” the European Review of Books makes it feel like we’re riding a motorcycle in World War I. But we only want peace!

One reason we believe so much in the ERB is that it doesn’t stand in competition with magazines we love; it joins them, and does so in admiration. This project has, in fact, made us encounter literary magazines we hadn’t read before, look anew at magazines we’d put aside, discover beautiful magazines in languages we wish we could read. We’re starting the ERB because of the new solidarities such a magazine can create.