Cultural Cross Sections Elena Poniatowska In this column that originally appeared in La Jornada, Elena Poniatowska considers the role of editors and talks with Diego Rabasa, founder of publisher Sexto Piso. Already precarious, the pandemic lockdown has made the plight of independent publishers and bookstores in Mexico in light of Covid-19 even more acute. To be an editor is to answer the call of the gods. It’s a vocation, a ministry, an immense privilege, to enter the Olympus of literature. To be an editor is to pick those who have talent and launch them. To be a publisher is to foretell: this one will make it. It’s also to disappoint and reject. I recall the Dutch printer Alexander Stolz in Mexico holding out to me his exquisite edition of Benjamin Constant’s Adolphe, as if it were a diamond, at the Fondo de Cultura Económica, and the paternal care that Arnaldo Orfila Reynal took with the anguished palavering of Fernando del Paso. To be an editor is to be a psychologist and to be bewildered as to how to treat each creature-author. Vicente Rojo was my editor, and we have loved each other deeply since, but I never gave him trouble. What must that genius from Pachuca named Yuri Herrera be like? What’s his soft spot? I have to handle Carlos Montemayor with kid gloves because he’s unpredictable. Federico Alvarez, director of the FCE in Spain, told me that seeing Elena Garro and Helena Paz enter the FCE in Madrid was like falling into... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-03 21:05:48 UTC ]
Simon & Schuster imprint Touchstone has created Glommable, a site that will curate content from Internet personalities and authors from across publishing houses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The theme of this year’s Children’s Media Conference (CMC), which took place 1-3 July in Sheffield, was “All Change”. Which is apt, because the children’s TV industry (from which this conference was originally born) is experiencing a disruption just as profound and perhaps more urgent than... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ovum’s new Digital Consumer Publishing Forecast is published tomorrow. It takes a five year view at how this sector will change. Ahead of publication, Ovum analyst Charlotte Miller gives TheMediaBriefing an exclusive look at some of t ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelist Kerry Hudson is setting out ‘a provocation’ calling for wholesale change to encourage and reflect broader spectrum of voicesThe award-winning novelist Kerry Hudson is set to make a bold call for change in UK publishing, which she believes is failing “to reflect the extraordinary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Lucy Beresford is launching an initiative to create a library at one of the London shelters for domestic violence charity Refuge. Beresford said: “I'm launching an initiative called Refuge for Books, asking all my friends in the publishing world to send me a copy of a book for Refuge.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tony Uphoff, CEO of Business.com, has more than 20 years of experience leading and transforming b-to-b publishing companies.Before joining Business.com in 2013, he was CEO of tech publisher UBM TechWeb, where he led the company's transformation from a $125 million print-centric business to a... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The changing nature of the worldwide book industry is sharply demonstrated in the upper echelons of the 2015 edition of the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry: for the first time, publishing houses from outside Europe and North America have cracked the top 10. Both the groups—Phoenix... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonnier Publishing has appointed Kate Parkin as executive director of adult publishing. Parkin will be responsible for publishing and management across the division’s adult imprints and will report to fiction chief executive Mark Smith. She joins Bonnier from her role as fiction publisher at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When it comes to high-calibre non-fiction, risk-averse trade publishing houses are producing too many copycat ‘smart thinking’ books that promise more than they deliver. But praise should be given to the university pressesAmid the ambient wails of doom about the publishing industry, I’d like to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On Thursday, Ada’s Technical Books in Seattle became the first independent bookstore to sign on for an imprint with Inkshares, a new publisher that melds crowdfunding with traditional publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On Toronto’s Queen Street West, there is a nine-year-old independent bookstore that has taken the art of window displays to a whole new level. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US tech sector’s problems with Brussels deepen as competition chief focuses on allegedly restrictive contract clausesThe European commission has launched a competition inquiry into Amazon’s dominant market position in ebooks, as Brussels steps up its scrutiny of US tech groups. The EU’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Editors and licensing acquisition executives from publishing houses including Lerner, Bendon, Candlewick, Random House, and others are among the attendees roaming the show floor at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, which runs June 9-11. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Non-human cover stars are two-a-penny in the publishing industry. Just check out Miley with Bubba Sue on the new issue of Paper magazine. But, as many celebrities past and present show, you have to pick your companion with care…In the competitive world of magazine covers, you’re nobody unless... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What a difference a year has made with BookCon, with this year's literary fanfest featuring not one but two author panels specifically addressing issues of diversity in books and in the publishing industry itself. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BBC Radio 4’s former commissioning editor Caroline Raphael is to join Penguin Random House UK. Raphael will take on the role of editorial director, audio, reporting to audio publisher Videl Bar-Kar. She will lead Penguin Random House UK’s audio editorial and production team and help grow its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the late 1970s, Mitchell Kaplan dropped out of law school in Washington, D.C., with the dream of opening an independent bookstore in South Florida, where he grew up. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While Books & Books was selected as PW’s Bookstore of the Year, our judges felt that another store, St. Louis’s 46-year-old Left Bank Books, deserves recognition for exemplifying what an independent bookstore can and should do to serve its community during a crisis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Teri Hayt has worked for both large and small news organization during her 35-year career in the publishing industry. She’s worked for Time-Life Books, Inc., the Arizona Daily Star, Sports Illustrated, Newsday, the San Diego Union-Tribune ( ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Figures from across the publishing industry are limbering up for the Virgin London Marathon this Sunday (26th April). Nick Coveney, head of digital at Blink Publishing, will be running to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society and the Albert Kennedy Trust via his fundraising page. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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