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 ]
Waterstones has passionate booksellers who are “handselling again”, breaking début novelists and “building careers”, according to publishers. Chief executives and sales directors of publishing houses have spoken to The Bookseller following the release of the chain retailer’s annual results (to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House is to use the Penguin brand for its consumer activity across social media, The Bookseller has learned. From the end of tomorrow (4th February), the various Penguin social media channels will carry news about "books and authors”, with corporate news to be shared on Penguin... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Denis Wilson Yes, data has become a buzzword and anyone with a little extra hot air will be eager to tell you it's the cure to what ails your business. The collection of articles in this issue of Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2015-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Drawing on her panoramic reading and her experiences of the authorly life cycle, Atwood surveys her trade with a mix of seriousness and gentle fun“You may find the subject a little peculiar,” warns Margaret Atwood, before she discusses the writer’s relationship with mortality. “It is a little... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Anderson family, which controls 58% of the stock of Books-A-Million, is offering $2.75 a share to acquire all the shares of the bookstore chain that it does not already own. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The novelist Robert Harris was right to call the BBC’s lack of a books show a ‘disgrace’. There’s plenty the corporation could do to make a popular literary programme on TVWith injury, there is always a little insult. When a BBC spokesperson, responding to Robert Harris’s complaints at the Costa... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House has acquired 'Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,' a new novel by Salman Rushdie, set to pub in September. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Six Egmont employees will lose their jobs at the end of the month following the closure of the US office, the company has confirmed. The company also said it will publish its spring 2015 list and books will continue to be available via Random House, but it did not say what would happen to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sonny Mehta has paid tribute to former colleague Simon Master [pictured], who died suddenly last week, with Mehta telling The Bookseller he felt “extremely privileged to have known him”. Master died on Friday (16th January) while on holiday, at the age of 70. He was formerly deputy group... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Patterson, already among the world's best-selling authors, plans to shake up the publishing industry with the launch of his new novel, Private Vegas, which will self-destruct within 24 hours. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Joseph has acquired a thriller about a woman who survived an attack by a serial killer. Publishing director Maxine Hitchcock bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Black-Eyed Susans, and one other untitled thriller, by Julia Haeberlin from Rachel Kind at Random House in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Random House group deputy chairman Simon Master died suddenly on Friday (January 16th). Master, who was 70, died while on holiday. Master was deputy group chairman for Random House from 1989 to 2004 and previously worked at Pan, where he was editorial director, publishing director and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writers believe that the publishing industry still views them largely through a prism of ethnicity, but industry insiders say that there is no pigeonholing based on race. Authors told The Bookseller they are still defined by their racial identity for marketing purposes and receive more success... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Myriad has appointed Louisa Pritchard to head up its international rights, taking over from Adrian Weston. Pritchard is the founder of LPA, which sells international rights on behalf of agencies and publishers. She previously worked as head of rights at PFD, foreign rights director at Orion and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One day about three years after I’d left the New Yorker to become a book editor, Alberto Vitale—former CEO of Random House, Inc., a genial, intelligent, and remarkably tan businessman, originally from Italy and Olivetti—stopped me in the hall outside my office. “Profesore, how are you?” Alberto... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2015-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google removed its news aggregation service from Spain a few days ago, but the Spanish Newspaper Publishers’ Association (AEDE) is already asking the government to bring it back. AEDE claims the removal of Google News will be bad business for the publishing industry overall and will have more of... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW takes a look back at some of the library stories that captivated the publishing world in 2014, and what they portend for 2015 Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martha Stewart is expanding her home-goods empire, this time by offering food and drink directly to her legions of devotees with her first cafe.Martha Stewart Cafe will open in the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, where the domestic maven's company headquarters are... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If squabbles over format, pricing and Amazon have led the US publishing industry to neglect an ever more diverse audience, we have forgotten why people read books in the first placeThe true price of publishingAt the recent National Book Awards ceremony in New York City, presenter and bestselling... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Robert M. Sacks Do you ever wonder if the publishing industry has learned enough in the last five years to be more effective and more profitable in the next five years? Of course, effective is a relative term... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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