Occupation Author, editor Name Barry Golson Language English Role Journalist | Nationality American Spouse Thia Golson Genre travel writing | |
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Notable awards Lowell Thomas Travel Writing Award (2004) Books Gringos in Paradise: An American Couple Builds Their Retirement Dream House in a Seaside Village in Mexico Education Stanford University, Yale University, Phillips Exeter Academy Similar People John Edgar Wideman, Jennifer Eaton Gokmen, Joseph Campbell, Thomas Bulfinch, Anastasia M Ashman | ||
Barry golson 1976
Barry Golson is an American editor, journalist, and author. A graduate of Yale and Stanford University, he served as editor-in-chief at World Press Review for two years, Playboy for 12 years, and TV Guide for four years. He helped launch both Yahoo! Internet Life and ForbesTraveler.com, serving as both their editors. While at Playboy, he co-authored and edited a number of influential interviews, including John Lennon and Jimmy Carter. He also edited The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and The Playboy Interview, both originally published in 1981. He authored Gringos in Paradise, a 2006 book detailing his and his wife's attempted retirement to Mexico, and Retirement Without Borders, a 2008 guide book detailing pros and cons of retiring to exotic locales. He was awarded the Lowell Thomas Travel Writing Award in 2004 for his article in AARP Magazine.
Contents
- Barry golson 1976
- Education
- Editing career
- Articles
- Gringos in Paradise 2006
- Retirement Without Borders 2008
- Awards
- Personal life
- Publishing History
- References
Education
Golson attended Phillips Exeter Academy for high school and Yale University as an undergraduate, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. While there, he started a weekly lifestyle section for the campus newspaper, the Yale Daily News. He later attended Stanford University on a Ford fellowship.
Editing career
In January 1970, Golson had a two year stint as executive editor of World Press Review.
From October 1973 until October 1988, Golson edited articles and interviews for Playboy Magazine . For twelve of those fifteen years he also served as Executive Editor. As editor of the Playboy interviews, he co-interviewed or collaborated in a number of influential interviews with people such as Jimmy Carter during the election process in 1976 and John Lennon. Golson edited The Playboy Interview (January 2, 1981) by Playboy Press and The Playboy Interview Volume II (1983). Both were paperback compilations of Playboy interviews with figures in music, politics, sports, literature, etc. He also edited David Sheff's The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, published by Playboy Press in 1981 and republished in 2000.
In August 1989, Golson and Arthur Kretchmer, Playboy's editorial director, visited Hugh Hefner's Los Angeles mansion to pitch the idea for a new magazine entitled Men's Life. It was intended to be a mature magazine about men's issues, covering kids, sports, fashion, business life, family life, etc. Hefner declined and Golson took the project to Rupert Murdoch, whose magazine division launched it in 1990. The severe recession caused Murdoch to fold the magazine.
In 1991 Golson was hired as the executive editor of TV Guide, where he stayed for four years. At that time, with a circulation of 13 million, TV Guide covered the television industry and published serious articles on programming. While there, Golson launched TV Guide Online.
On February 15, 1996, the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company publicly announced Golson as the Editor-in-Chief of Yahoo! Internet Life and the company's Director of Navigation Services. In October 1995, he'd been hired to properly relaunch Yahoo's attempt to create a consumer magazine covering internet topics. Yahoo had agreed to revamp Ziff Davis' old 100,000 circulation quarterly ZD Internet Life. Golson's job was to turn the magazine into a monthly publication. On July 1, 2002, after they had garnered a paid circulation of 1.1 million, Ziff Davis announced the magazine would be folded due to lack of advertisers during the 2002 recession.
He helped launch the award-winning Truthdig.com in 2003. The site, which covers current affairs as well as a variety of thoughtful, provocative content assembled from a progressive point of view, won the "Best Political Blog" Webby Award in 2010. He has written for the site and is a listed contributor.
In 2004 Golson wrote an article for AARP Magazine about affordable Mexican locales for American retirees. The article won the Lowell Thomas Travel Writing Award for 2004.
In September 2006, it was announced that Forbes.com was launching ForbesTraveler.com, a web site for the luxury travel market. Golson, who had attempted to retire to write in Mexico after Yahoo! Internet Life, returned to New York work to serve as Editor in Chief for the new project. He periodically contributed articles to the online magazine and for the main Forbes.com website. He stayed as editor until 2009.
Articles
Golson has been commissioned to write for publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Ski, Diversion, and Salon. Golson wrote a new series of articles in the September–October 2010" for AARP Magazine titled "Paradise Found" about the best places to retire abroad. That month he was cited as an expert on CBS Moneywatch and The Wall Street Journal for information on the best places to retire abroad.
Gringos in Paradise (2006)
In 2005, a year after writing his award-winning article on Mexican locales for AARP, Golson and his wife Thia sold their Manhattan, New York apartment and drove in their SUV to the surfing and fishing village of Sayulita on Mexico's Pacific Coast.
His book Gringo's in Paradise tells about their new life and the process of building their retirement dream home in Mexico, which took them a year in total. The book, which is fully titled Gringo's in Paradise: An American Couple Builds Their Retirement Dream House in a Seaside Village in Mexico was published on November 14, 2006 (Scribner). It was positively covered in publications such as Time, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Weekend, and many others.
Retirement Without Borders (2008)
In December 2008, Golson co-authored Retirement Without Borders (Scribner), with his wife Thia. Golson chose ten countries to cover and review, working with "expatriate" retirees in each to provide information on pros and cons on retiring in each. The countries covered include Mexico, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, France, Italy, Croatia, Spain and Portugal. The Golsons, who themselves have lived in six different countries, choose locales known for their low cost, high quality of living, and sun. The guide covers practical issues such as health care, finances, real estate, taxes, and immigration. The book was covered in publications such as The Wall Street Journal.
He is also co-author of a comic novel.
Awards
Personal life
Golson and his wife, Thia, alternate their time between New York City and their home in Sayulita, Mexico. They have two grown sons.