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 ]
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi founded the Emirates Publishers Association and pushed for it to become a full member of the IPA. Here, she explains it was so important. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bertelsmann’s Random House will now own 100 percent of the shares in Random House Mondadori, its trade book publisher in Spain and Latin America. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Universal shock at the news on Monday (29th October) of a merger between Penguin and Random House... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House and Penguin chiefs have moved to reassure staff, authors and agents as news of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pearson and Bertelsmann have confirmed that Penguin and Random House are to combine into a new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has expressed interest in buying book publisher Penguin Group, potentially undermining merger discussions between Penguin and Random House, people familiar with the situation said. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin and Random House, which are merging to form one of the world's biggest publishers, are confident of regulatory approval but will sell "bits and pieces" if necessary. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pearson shares open higher on news that two of the world's biggest publishers, Penguin and Random House, are in talks about a possible merger. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pearson, the owner of Penguin, and Bertelsmann, Random House's parent company, are currently in discussions to merge the two companies. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pearson has confirmed that it is in talks with Bertelsmann regarding a potential merger between... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lena Dunham, creator of HBO’s Girls, signed a $3.7 million book deal with Random House. Rob Spillman says it is emblematic of all that is wrong with corporate publishing today. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Finns’ love of books has bolstered the publishing industry in spite of global economic challenges. Read our interviews with prominent Finnish publishing pros. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Children’s author Shirley Hughes has been signed up for a new series by Random House... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A week ago, Salon.com published an interview with the novelist Jeffrey Eugenides titled, “Jeffrey Eugenides: I don’t know why Jodi Picoult is belly-aching.” Eugenides was asked a question about gender bias in the publishing world (a topic about which Picoult, along with other novelists like... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House has acquired world rights in the autobiography of comedy great John Cleese, star of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House has acquired the autobiography of actor Sir David Jason, star of series including... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s almost here, the publishing industry’s annual literary Oktoberfest: the Frankfurt Book Fair. This year’s edition officially kicks off on October 10, with more than 150,000 professional visitors representing some 7,500 companies and 110 countries expected to gather to trade rights, network,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s been three years since HarperCollins became the first publisher to move to a digital catalogue. Since then Random House has gone entirely paperless, while others, like Perseus Books Group, offer both. Some provide Edelweiss printouts on request. Yet despite the push to digital, a handful of... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House’s William Heinemann has acquired a non-fiction title about language... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The price-fixing case turns out well for Amazon but unsettles many others in the industry.Publishing insiders worry that a decisive court ruling benefiting retailer Amazon.com Inc. will undermine an industry already struggling with the transition to ebooks. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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